Stadia: architectural evaluation of stadia as a socio-cultural and economic component of a country with special reference to Sri Lanka

Abstract

In the pre- historic times man led a nomadic life style and earned his food mainly by hunting. But with the development of culture and with the development of societies, he no longer had to hunt for his food. He had ample time on his hands to do whatever he wishes. Sports filled in the void created in his life by not having to hunt anymore. Though he may never has understood, sports played a major role in men successful adaptation to the lifestyle of today, from that of his pre- historic, nomadic ancestors. So it is no surprise that sports took such an important part in the sociocultural development of a country. Through out the human civilization parallel with the socio- cultural and economic development, sports culture too developed. With the development of the sports culture, man started to build special spaces for sport activities. So began the long and wonderful history of sports stadia. Parallel to the various development areas of human history we can identify, various stages of stadia developments too. Different types of stadia developed as a result of different socio-cultural styles and trends of different ears and nations. This co-related evelopment continued all the way through the modern world we live.in today. The connection between the society and its sports stadia has never been so strong in the entire history of human kind. The stadium has become so important aspect of a society, that it is gradually taking over the importance so far held by the religious buildings. In the modern day world the sports stadium is not only a place where just 'sport functions' take place it is a major source of entertainment and social interaction. The stadia all over the world has developed with the city in a way, so that even the social economic sustainability of some cities depends on their stadia. Our stadia have failed in this aspect, because of our architecture has so far failed to grasp the potentials of a stadium. Thus failing to character for those potentials. Therefore our stadia lack the necessary encouragements in its special progression or in its architectural language to make then places of social interaction, so our stadia remain, just as dead spaces with in the cities, with no value to the society, culturally or financially. But them are some exceptions to be seen, where some kind of socio-cultural and mix-use functions take place. Stadia like S S C have succeeded somewhat in becoming important social cultural and economic centers in the cities, they belong to. They have manage to do so, simply because they have acquired mix-use capacity. These stadia are hot just sport stadia, but cater to various social cultural and economic needs of the society and they are in harmony with surrounding physical and social context. So they have become very popular social centers in the cities all year around. We must understand to look at all the success and failures of the stadia in Global phenomenon and give the unique solution needed for design problem at hand. In other words mere replica, of however successful the original may be, want be a successful solution to a design problem they have to solve. When the architects of Sri Lanka managed to achieve this goal, our stadia too will be centers of important socio-cultural and economic growth. Thus creating a sustainable bond between city and the stadia.