Anyone else design sports stadiums?

[Sean84106]

Since around 6th grade I've filled a note book with stadiums I've designed. A lot are just quick drawings, most either football stadiums or NBA arenas. Some of course being for baseball and hockey.

I'm wondering if I'm the only person that does this? If my scanner was working I'd scan some of my stadiums, but since I can't...I'll just describe 'em. At least the ones I like.

I designed a 1930s era hockey arena called the Salt Lake Ice Center. It was basically two slabs of seating on the sides, both inclining toward the top. By the goals were about 5 rows of seating, then a wall where the broadcasters and journalists would sit. The outside was a lot like Maple Leaf Gardens.

Another stadium design I did was Beehive Stadium, future home to a Salt Lake City NFL team. It had two bowls, an upper and lower one. They formed a U with the open end having bleachers that weren't connected to the lower bowl, but rather elevated walkways. Of course, there was also a large beehive statue atop this area.

Pointless thread? Maybe.....but I still find it fun. Maybe I'll start doing designs on the computer now.

[uncle_wiggily]

Sounds interesting, are you an architect or this just a hobby? Ever considered submitting them to any firms?

[Moser316]

I posted my master's thesis in Architecture a couple months ago in this forum (a 12,000-seat multi-purpose arena specializing in hockey for the Menomonee River Valley just outside of downtown Milwaukee), I'll post the pics when I get home from work and get done with lifting tonight...

[Alphabet Man]

yeah i used to design some but since i become interested in deisgning uniforms....do you design the mby an eagle eye view or do you go in to depth with everything under the seats or and ground???

[Sean84106]

Sounds interesting, are you an architect or this just a hobby? Ever considered submitting them to any firms?

It's just a hobby, and I highly doubt they're good enough to be accepted. That and I don't think they are fully accurate.

I posted my master's thesis in Architecture a couple months ago in this forum (a 12,000-seat multi-purpose arena specializing in hockey for the Menomonee River Valley just outside of downtown Milwaukee), I'll post the pics when I get home from work and get done with lifting tonight...

Yeah? I'll look forward to seeing it.

[Sean84106]

yeah i used to design some but since i become interested in deisgning uniforms....do you design the mby an eagle eye view or do you go in to depth with everything under the seats or and ground???

It really depends, sometimes I'll draw it from a slanted view, sometimes I'll do almost every view possible for the stadium, and of course sometimes I'll do it from just the over-head view.

[pflava]

I have several notebooks filled with stadiums I would design as a kid. I would do the blueprint/aerial view, then some sketches of the stands and field in "game situations". I was obsessed with that stuff when I was younger.

[mac]

ive always designed baseball fields, like the wall dimensions foul territory and stuff like that, but only a couple of times did I make an entire stadium. However I did "invent" a new kind of retractable roof though, whether it would work or not I will probably never know.

[DEAD!]

Have a look at my signature!

[Moser316]

OK, here's the condensed version of what I posted a while back (all the images, none of the explanations ):

PRE-THESIS INTERIOR RENDERINGS

FLOOR PLANS

Service Level

Street Level

Mezzanine Level

Terrace Level

[Moser316]

SECTIONS AND ELEVATIONS

East/West Section

North/South Section

East Elevation

North/South Elevation

FINAL PHOTOMONTAGE IMAGES

[xyzzyva]

Moser316, not that you need me telling you this, but thats a great arena. I especially like the brick end of the interior. One question, where are the lights? Again, great arena, if only you could get it built .

[pcgd]

I asspired to be an architect for the longest time. I don't know when it really died, probably when I found out I'd have to take more math and the buildings would have to actually stand up.

I always did baseball stadiums as well. I also did a retractible roof design when Bank one first came out which was the first of the 90's/00's stadiums to have one if I'm remembering right.

It was alot like milwaukee's (shell) but it all folded to one side instead of the middle. I also always had a green monster like wall for some reason and a ton of weird angles. Its fun though...if I had time I probably could make some nice looking stuff now.

Awesome stuff Moser btw! What programs are those? I always wanted to get into 3d and maybe some architecture as a hobby. Never knew what programs would be good.

Anyhoo, I'd like to see your stuff too sean! Mine's long gone i believe, but I'll try to dig some of it up!

peace,

pc

[DEAD!]

Well, pgcd, try to get a copy of AutoCAD, it's a good place to start. I do stadiums as a hobby, when I have the time.

[MilTownMVP]

Lately, I've been trying to see how feasible it would be to construct a stadium like the Polo Grounds given what todays sports fans expect.

In fact, I don't understand why the old cookie-cutter stadiums didn't resemble the Polo Grounds, or Cleveland Municipal Stadium, or Baltimore Memorial Stadium. Seems like they made for better sightlines (at least when compared to Three Rivers, Riverfront, etc).

[Moser316]

Lately, I've been trying to see how feasible it would be to construct a stadium like the Polo Grounds given what todays sports fans expect.

In fact, I don't understand why the old cookie-cutter stadiums didn't resemble the Polo Grounds, or Cleveland Municipal Stadium, or Baltimore Memorial Stadium. Seems like they made for better sightlines (at least when compared to Three Rivers, Riverfront, etc).

Don't forget, the cookie-cutter stadiums had to try to accomodate both baseball and football, and what they ended up with were stadiums that didn't work well for either sport. In baseball, you pretty much cut off any views of the outside world and had symmetrical field dimensions (not like at the post-Camden Yards ballparks of today). Baseball stadiums are supposed to have some quirkiness and character to them, and if you have the same exact stadium in 5-6 different cities, that really takes away from the inherent home field advantages that teams used to have (and are starting to get back with the new breed of ballparks).

In football you had fewer seats that faced the field straight-on in the upper decks. Due to their round shape, if you were sitting between the end zone and 35 yard lines (and you weren't in the movable seating at field level), you had some weird angles that you wouldn't have at a football-only stadium.

Ultimately, I think the answer to your question is that if you try to shoehorn one sport into a stadium made for another, it really doesn't work out as it's supposed to. Also, if you make the compromise of trying to fit baseball and football into the same stadium, it doesn't really work to the strong suits of the games themselves (in baseball) or fan comfort/sight lines (in football). That being said, the three stadiums you mentioned did accomodate football reasonably well AND had their own inherent characteristics in baseball. Cleveland and Baltimore were actually pretty similar in that they were built to serve teams built on pitching and defense for baseball. At the Polo Grounds, the short distances to the outfield walls at the poles really served dead-pull hitters, and the long distance to center made for a few inside-the-park home runs for speedy gap hitters.

[Brass]

Moser, what program did you use to design the hockey rink?

[Moser316]

Moser, what program did you use to design the hockey rink?

AutoCAD 2004 for the wireframe, AccuRender for the 3D building renderings, and PSP7 for the photomontages

[marlinfan]

i do alot of overhead shots of baseball stadiums. i've tried doing some renderings but don't come out the way i want to, even though i can draw pretty good stuff. my drawings aren't to scale but i try to keep them very close. i did a drawing of some changes i did to fenway. including adding a small upper deck to increase capacity by 2,000.

[the_cynic]

Moser, you're a genius! I used to do the same exact thing you are doing but I ran out of inspiration. Creating floors plans are fun because they're so complex. It's also fun watching them come together and actually thinking to yourself, "wow, this could actually fly!".