Designing for life

J Parrish, architectural director of ArupSport talks to Host City about Singapore Sports Hub, the project of a lifetime

For J Parrish, architectural director of ArupSport, designing the Singapore Sports Hub represented a tremendous opportunity. “It was a magical brief. The Singaporeans definitely approached it in a considered and intelligent way – their fundamental aim was to provide something for everyone. They were far-sighted enough to turn it on its head and say ‘actually we want a design for the ‘every day’, we want to provide a facility for Singaporeans, and we want to improve Singapore’s profile in terms of sport’. From the very beginning, every bit as much effort was put into working out the schedule of events as was put into the rest of the project – the Singaporeans were committed to doing something that could be inclusive and encourage participation, as well as providing a stunning site for the purpose, with a fully integrated transport system already in place.”

Will the events schedule at Beijing National Stadium ever be as
spectacular as the design? (© ArupSport, picture by Clive Lewis)

The site is designed to handle a wide range of uses and events, from daily activities to special international events such as the Commonwealth Games, which Parrish tips Singapore to host in the future. “The key is to achieve a careful balance between what you provide in terms of permanent facilities against temporary event facilities. You need to provide the right sort of infrastructure for every day use as well as regular events and one off special major events. For instance, security takes a lot of space. You wouldn’t want to put all your security facilities in for everyday use if they are only going to be needed every 10 years. The Commonwealth Games has a different overlay to a major football event.”

The National Stadium has been designed as a dome with a retractable roof, which gives the opportunity to host a multitude of sports and events, ranging from football, rugby and cricket to athletics and spectacular shows such as the Singaporean National Day Parade. “The closing roof was expensive, but if you look at the bigger picture, and think of how it will attract people to the venue, you realise how it will benefit the city.” There is also an aquatic centre and a multi-purpose indoor arena that can hold nine sports events simultaneously.

However, integrating a major sports facility into the everyday life of a city is not the usual approach. Imagine, for example, being at the forefront of the design team for an Olympic stadium, experiencing the excitement and satisfaction of seeing it in use during the Games, but then watching how seldom the venue is used once the big event is over. Parrish has now experienced this twice, first after helping to design the Olympic Stadium for Sydney and subsequently with the Beijing Olympic Stadium.

“Sydney was much lauded for the Olympics, but it struggled afterwards to maintain an events programme that would consistently bring people in to the facilities in Homebush Bay. The lessons from that were not learned by Athens, so we saw a similar situation where they were having trouble implementing a regular and sustainable programme of use. I was concerned to read that the Beijing National Stadium has not yet managed to establish a full programme of events - they need to make the most of this wonderful venue.”

Parrish clearly does not want this to be a repeated experience. “The 10 days of full capacity during the Olympics is a very limited part of a venue’s overall life. Whether it’s an Olympics or a World Cup, it is the long-term benefit to the city that counts – the fact that you’ve got lots of people using it on a daily basis. The bottom line is that venues should be used every day, not just occasionally.” The root of the problem is often a lack of sufficiently detailed forward planning on the part of organisers, he says. “As designers, we usually have to work with only a very sketchy events programme. But the best way to develop the design is in parallel with a thorough and consistent events schedule – as we have done in Singapore.”

Appealing to the masses
Indeed, the Sports Hub bucks this trend, with its every day appeal extending even wider than the range of sports events planned. Singapore Sports Hub incorporates training centres, climbing walls, water sports and go-karting. In order to draw as many people to the site as possible, a number of commercial and cultural attractions line the waterfront. The stadium itself has been designed in direct response to the tropical climatic conditions: the traditional external concourse has been reinterpreted to merge indoor and outdoor space, with a large open louvred area providing shade and amenity along the edge of the stadium. This area has been dubbed the Sports Promenade, and is intended to encourage pedestrians to walk around the venue, enjoying a range of activities and subsidiary events designed to animate the whole development.

Parrish says: “The aim is to get as many people as possible using the venues every day, whether to watch events, enjoy the facilities, meet friends or play sport. We want people to be able to use all the different parts of the venue whenever they want. It’s meant to be open, inviting, rather than ‘go away, we don’t want you unless you have a ticket’.” According to Parrish, sporting infrastructure associated with all major events must be of value to the entire urban community – not just aspiring athletes. “If you put on interesting events and activities for the whole community, you will get all levels of participation in recreational terms.”

The organisers of major events should give preference to bids that are designed to service the community, Parrish says. “It should be part of their assessment as to which bid is successful. I would love to see the IOC and FIFA having greater confidence in the fact that their venues will be integrated into the fabric of city life.”

Returning to the heart of cities
While inadequate events scheduling is a problem, at least it can be put right. But the disadvantages of an unsuitable location can be difficult to overcome. “Remote locations, such as Homebush Bay”, says Parrish, “are not the easiest to get to. You’re not going to go there very often from central Sydney. Stadiums work best in the heart of cities, where all the transport infrastructure is focused. Central locations encourage regular visitors.”

Also, placing sporting infrastructure venues away from the centre makes it less likely that they will have additional uses, Parrish says. “Location is crucial. The venues we design should be sustainable, in financial and environmental terms, but especially in social terms. Placing a stadium in the heart of a city gives people easy access for all sorts of daily activities and events. If I’m in the heart of Singapore I can say: why don’t we just go to the Sports Hub – it’s only two stops on the underground.”

Opinions on 2016 Olympic bids
The 2016 Olympics is still a long way away and there is time for organising committees to plan effectively for the city dwellers of the future. Parrish says each of the four bids has a “special flavour” and each of the bid cities could host a good Olympics, but he singles out the southern hemisphere’s bid for particular praise.

“The experience for visitors should be truly memorable,” he says. “The warmth and friendship and the general welcome at the Sydney Olympics were unbelievable. I’d never been to a community before where everyone just wanted to have fun and be friendly and tidy up their city and just make everything a party, and it was absolutely brilliant. I suppose I am biased – I see the Brazilian colour and excitement and I do quite like that. It could be the most amazing experience for everyone who goes there.”

Tokyo is also in a strong position, as long as it maximises the potential of its venues. “Tokyo is a great city. They have a lot of facilities which were there earlier – they obviously have the ability to reuse things. Although it worries me that when they had the World Cup they didn’t tick the boxes as to what it was going to be used for afterwards. There is nothing worse than seeing great venues being left empty.”