Through the design of this stadium, Cox Howlett & Bailey Woodland Architects made it their mission to re-engage spectators with sport.
Perth Rectangular Stadium is conceived to embrace the human experience of sport and to extend the social typology of people being drawn together in the celebration of the event.
This stadium re-invents the concourse as a social heart – a main street of human activity and interchange, flanked on one side by the field and on the other by the park. The concourse becomes a social gallery forged by the structural frames which provide the supporting armature to the seating platts. The marching steel frames are organic in form, having an almost athletic stance.
The natural form unites the seating rakers and cantilevered roof structure into a singular entity: instantly recognisable and structurally simple. These paired forms nestle on a rhythm of vertical supports which create a colonnaded expression to the park, and which encapsulate the concourse volume.
The concourse is defined by the drama of the structure, a space that extends over the length of the stand with a generous sense of volume rising up to the upper levels of the seating bowl. The formed structural frames provide clear signals for the main circulation points to and from the stand with natural light permeating into the concourse at these points. A huge woven metal veil provides shelter to the gallery and filtered natural light to the concourse floor, while maintaining visual contact with the adjacent park and sky.
The food, beverage and amenity facilities have been extracted from under the stand to sit on the edge of the park and front into the gallery, engendering a 'main street' atmosphere to this primary circulation spire.
The stadium is a complete social and sculptural object, which fosters an elegant signature of identity for the precinct.
PERTH RECTANGULAR STADIUM ARCHITECT | Cox Howlett & Bailey Woodland BUILDER | BGC BUILD TIME | 9 months BRIEF | Create a venue that focuses on the human experience of sport, from the journey into the grounds through to the immersion in the event. FEATURES | Large concourse, cantilevered roof, woven metal veil for gallery shelter and filtered natural light, food, beverage and amenity facilities. LOCATION | 310 Pier Street, Perth
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