URBAN ENCLOSURE

Stimulated by the permanent evolution of the city, the stadium — a large enclosure, is an urban object that gives form to a collective space. During the antiquity the first meaning for stadium was a measure of length of 15 steps, then it designated the space where the race took place and today it has become a field for mixed-purpose events. We question this evolution of sport activities and their relationship with the city by using this archetypal object. The architecture of stadiums generates a multiplicity of uses. We are particularly interested in the interaction of the stadium with the city through the square as an open and properly collective space. On the other side of the enclosure, the sport scene is an evolutionary ground where several practices can coexist, allowing a spatial amplification. Large structures free the ground. This analogy illustrates their ability to enclose large areas of capable spaces dedicated to multifunctionality. As ‘other space’ the stadium creates active and firm urban voids. As an urban machine, the stadium becomes an object capable to support programmatic and spatial hybridity. The city stadiums of today seem to gravitate in a suburban system, in total disconnection with city centers. Hence, we re-question their place and urban condition. With their vast footprints they generate a duality inside/out: the stadium has been ejected from the city and in the same time it continues to produce the city itself.