Architecture for Grassroots Sport and Public Clients: A Comparative Analysis
Sara Giulia Troncone
Politecnico di Milano, Department of Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering, Italy
Abstract: This paper moves from a doctoral research, still underway, which studies the development of grassroots sports facilities since the post-war period till today with the aim of drawing-up an atlas for the design of facilities in contemporary city. During these period, it is possible to recognize contexts in which the theme of sports and leisure facilities has been tackled in a systematic way. The study does not focus on facilities specialized for competitions but it deals with multifunctional facilities facing with the urban scale,related with the context in which are located and with a high level of attractiveness.
Two are the fundamental contexts of investigation:
• the English context of the post-war period: following some investigations (such as the Wolfenden report), the public administration recognizes the social role of sport. As a result of this conscience, in the context of post-war reconstruction (and related to the debate on Urban Planning), public administration invests in the construction of sports facilities as a logical component of the welfare state; the construction of civic centers where sport becomes an element of community life: the structures take on extraordinary dimensions where there is a high degree of activities combination;
• the Catalan context of the democratic reconstruction after the Franco regime: the neo-government is call to respond to respond to the request for spaces for the amateur sports practice promoted by the associative network born spontaneously during the last years of the regime. It’s essential the role of the public administration in developing an investment strategy to provide the region with a basic network of services, and in the definition of models and regulations. The outcomes of these two moments are very different: on the one hand (English case) there is the construction of civic centers, as places that define a centrality in the context in which they are located; on the other (Catalan case) the priority is to build minimum structures that can be placed in consolidated contexts. Regarding these contexts, a comparative analysis should be conducted with respect to three key factors: the role of public administration; the protagonists (politicians and architects); settlements and architectural experimentations.
Key words: grassroots sports facilities, sport in Britain, sport in Catalunya, reconstruction
