Sports architecture
Introduction
Architecture for sports includes the design of spaces for the practice of sports and for the holding of sports competitions which are witnessed by a large number of spectators.[1] Among the structures are football and Olympic stadiums, sports halls, velodromes and grandstands, swimming centers and outdoor pools, thermal baths and spas, racecourses, and car racing tracks, among others.
Since ancient times and throughout the ages, sport and architecture are two elements that have come together. The role that architecture plays in shaping buildings and societies has occupied historians for centuries. Likewise, the cultural, economic and political importance of sport is a topic of research.[2].
At the end of the century and the beginning of the century, sport is becoming a philosophy of life.[3] Sports architecture is increasingly seen as a commercial symbol, reflecting a growing culture of greatness mainly induced by the media. Consequently, the structures built for international sporting events are effectively the "greatest theaters" of the century, a far cry from the formal severity of ancient examples.[4].
History
The first stadium was built in the century BC. C. around a rudimentary athletics track shaped like an elongated "U". The start and finish lines were at both ends and there was a single track 192 m long and 32 m wide. A stone stand with two separate entrances for the judges and for the spectators, who could see the athletes and cheer them on throughout the competition, was built along the track. The stand, also in the shape of an elongated U, ran along the three sides of the track, two straight and one curved, on the other side it opened to the surrounding landscape. The Olympia stadium, whose model was replicated as the Games became popular throughout ancient Greece, could seat about 45,000 spectators.
As the sport became more popular, stadiums were built in many Greek cities along with racecourses. These had similar features and dimensions but were used for horse and chariot racing. These sports facilities soon began to play key roles within the "polis". There are remains of these stadiums in Delphi, Ephesus and, above all, in Athens, where in 331 BC. C. the Panathenaic stadium was built.[5] It was then rebuilt for the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 and was renovated for the 2004 Athens Olympics.