Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

Sports facilities are a highly unexplored field, and as of the autumn 2008 no research is being conducted about sports fields at Swedish architecture universities. Very few people recognize the sports field as an area for the architecture profession, and to gain more information about sports fields I have discussed the subject with people with connections to architecture and/or sport. The sports field represents a type of sports facility, a permanent football and/or bandy field surrounded by running tracks with appropriate measurements. Like the city’s physical environment, the sports field is a public place, where outdoor activities take place. It is also one of the most frequently visited places in Sweden, which put specific demands at the physical conditions. To identify its activities and understand the importance of how the surroundings affect our wellbeing and health, it would be possible to also improve the performance itself at a sports field. Research shows how green environments have a rebuilding effect, develops mobility and ability to concentrate, and also accelerates the healing process. All of these aspects have a great importance for the visitors of the sports field.
One of the most rapidly growing social problems today is physical inactivity, and a topic on top of the political agenda is to increase physical activity. Due to this, there are strong motives for municipals to plan and design the outdoor environment to stimulate physical activities. Landscape architects in Sweden, as of today, plan and design sports fields and the two subject fields’ sports and architecture are becoming closer to each other and more related, even if Sweden today not has come as far as Denmark, where the two subject fields are tied together at Center for Idrætt og Arkitektur (Centre for Sports and Architecture).
Landscape architecture is often connected to the landscape paintings, and certain locations in the preindustrial landscape have by this been identified where it has been seen as natural to place elements. These seven locations are; in the middle of, on top of, in the centre of, at the edge of, below, within, and at a niche. I have chosen to visit sports fields placed at all of the seven locations to understand how the location in the landscape affects the visitor. Five of the sports fields are located in Sweden, one is in France, and one is in Italy.