Application of The Theory of New Urbanism to The Planning of Wimbledon Central Court

Despite the best and latest technology applied in facilities and functions, the Wimbledon’s main stadium plan is still maintained its strong and grand structure succeeding from the ancient structure of the Colosseum as being mentioned, ‘for the sports world, aspects of the Colosseum are indisputably presented in modern stadiums.’ Architecturally, Wimbledon has adopted the elliptical shape, and arches to support the structure in order to make the entrance and the exit convenient to the spectators.

The grass lawn in the centre is surrounded by 5 levels of rows with a hierarchical height allowing all spectators to experience the match thoroughly and feel the excitement of the contest like they were watching the gladiator fight with 360 degrees sighting capacity. Back to Roman times, the ancient colosseum seats were set in the same way, traditionally, by social hierarchy. This element of the spectator experience is heightened by the Colosseum’s enduring influence in the architecture of contemporary stadiums, which represents a unity of people from varying backgrounds over a shared, visceral experience. Therefore, with its oval elliptical shape with hierarchical seats, the spectators can experience the battle with from height like a bird's eye’s view. This is believed to enhance a sense of mutuality and excitement. On the other hand, for the players, this positioning provides them with a sense of courage and competition as they, as a centre of all attention, too can look up and see the grandness of the cross-section structure inspired by the Colosseum. All of these give spectators and players a pastime relish. According to Michael Novak, “Sports arenas are storied places. Universes of tales. One sits in them surrounded by ghostly ancestors.” Novak describes arenas as “our cathedrals,” and there are indeed similarities between the faith that inspires visitations to cathedrals and the passion that drives fans to sports shrines.

In addition, an extra six rows of seating on three sides of the upper-tier increased the capacity at Centre Court from 13,800 to 15,000. New wider seats have been installed to provide greater spectators’ comfort. To allow for the new seating, new media facilities and commentary boxes have been incorporated. More interesting, whereas the colosseum had an imperial box with seats made of special-coloured marble located in the middle south side higher than other surrounding seats, the modern centre court also has a clear glass tower in the east of the inside of the lawn as a royal box, basically close to the ground for the closer and eyed level experience and for reducing a hierarchy gap among the visitors, even as the transparency of the glass lends an ethereal quality to the VIP spectators’ movements within the ordered space. Tennis may not be fierce and violent compared to the past gladiator’s fight, but the passion involved in witnessing two opposing forces come together is a unifying theme between the past and the present.

According to one of the New Urbanism theories which belief, ‘Quality architecture and urban design emphasis on beauty, human comfort and creating a sense-of-place.’ The recent stadium has developed the concept of spaciousness within the limited space. “It is all about making space and coming into space,” recalled Barry Hulshoff, a veteran of Ajax Amsterdam. “It is a kind of architecture on the field. Even though Hulshoff believes that sports are about movement, but they are also more about organizing space. The spatial practices of sports are included with two factors which are frame and performance. The frame refers to the alignment and allocation of the sports field, while the performance focuses on the act of play. For Hulshoff, “Whether the manicured grass of a championship stadium or a patch of schoolyard, fields of play are laboratories of the spatial invention in which athletes devise and spectators witness creative responses to the constraints of the setting and the actions of teammates and opponents.

With the centre court as the heart of the landscape, the new tunnel provides discreet and secure access to the indoor court without disturbing the scenery. Meanwhile, the setting of the tea lawn is enhanced to reinforce the spirit of ‘Tennis in an English Garden’ by creating a series of distinctive character areas set within an overall landscape framework while enhancing the historic setting and identity of Wimbledon. In the Northeast, there is a new press lawn with views to the court. All of these are linked by the definition of circulation and hierarchy of spaces through varying paving types.

In terms of material use, The new main stadium and broadcast centre, the first and largest phase of the redevelopment and upgrading of the tennis facilities at Wimbledon, has several innovative engineering features using reinforced concrete. These include the exposed-concrete spectator bowl with its complex high-quality in-situ concrete raker beams supporting precast-concrete seating units, and the contiguous-piled basement retaining walls that enable a deep and economical excavation. The reinforced precast and in-situ concrete of the stadium. The bowl has been expressed dramatically, particularly at the four entrances to create structural depth. The reinforced- concrete framed accommodation 'trays' fit beneath the bowl but maintain a gap which allows daylight to penetrate to the lowest public circulation routes. This results in the players feeling secure and confident as if they are kept in their own comfort zone. Another interesting example of how the quality architecture, human comfort and creates a sense-of-place theory affect the tennis players emotionally on their journey to the Centre court. Once they leave their private room to the Centre court there are a few different sections of the interior they have to walk through. There are mixed emotions players have to go through on that journey, apart from their nerves, expectation and stress they have to carry. Walking towards the Centre court might bring them to a steep concentration because of the way Wimbledon layout the interior. First, they have to walk through an all-white narrow corridor with a lot of framed history images hanging and meaningful quotes on the walls. It is obvious that tennis players have their idols and the fact that there are images of their idol-making history hanging around them could inspire them with positive energy. As they walk forwards woods starts appearing slowly on the interior giving vintage victorian scenes until they arrive at the clubhouse which is the entrance of the Centre court. There is a famous giant green wall full with names of the past champions on the left-hand side of the Centre court entrance. The name of formers champions also encourages players in demand to have their name written up there, especially players that have their names written want to add their history of glory.

As an outdoor tournament, rain has postponed and interrupted the main matches at Centre Court throughout its 89-year history. To address this problem, the All England Club added a retractable roof that provides protection from rain while providing highly effective light transmission to maximise the demand for sunlight.

To close the roof, a coordinated electromechanical system moves the trusses apart and, at the same time, unfolds and stretches out the fabric between the trusses, until the two sections meet in an overlapping seam above the middle of the structure. After the roof is closed an outdoor space becomes indoor immediately. Indoor tennis is a completely different game, levelling the players not having to deal with the wind, sun directions, shadows, moisture in the air and others many natural conditions. Closing the roof would highlight out the sense of sound for both players and spectators. Going back to (no.5 Sense of place of The New Urbanism Theory) creates the character for the place, the sounds become the highlights in this scenario. Once the roof is closed the echo would enhance the sound of every single bounce, shot and celebration from the game. Every single winner shot from the racket sounds like a gunshot. The crowd's concentration to the game rise as they follow the echo, involving them to be a part of the game more.

Conclusion

Throughout this essay, in consideration to the different types of users of the Wimbledon championship, growth, tradition, environment and sustainability the Wimbledon Masterplan has been following various procedures. New Urbanism theory has been applied on the Wimbledon Master Planning focuses on the comfortability for the user by managing mainly on connectivity, mixed uses, diversity, walkability, structure, growth, zoning and the Centre Court. The Wimbledon Championships have been held at the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club since 1877, making it the oldest tennis tournament in the world and the only Grand Slam tournament played on the game’s original surface of the grass. It is not easy to control and maintain the tradition and theme of a space that is full with tradition and history. However, it is clear that the theme “tennis in an English garden” has been well protected and sustained by the championship. The intelligence behind this “tennis in an English garden” concept is that it brings nature closer to the people as the same time using (the no.5 sense-of-place of New Urbanism Theory) to bring out the foremost spirit of Wimbledon sinking those superior experiences automatically into people. “There is no mysterious essence we can call a 'place'. The place is changing. It is motion killed by the mind, and preserved in the amber of memory”.

On the other hand, the Ancient Roman Colosseum is a great influence that applies on the Wimbledon Centre Court. Apart from the architectural theory, they both hold a lot of history and spirit of the battles, sweat, blood and tears of the fighters. It’s is where the second type of space users spend most of their time battling for the glory. The fact that Centre Court holds in a lot of emotion of the spectators and the at leagues force the stadium to deliver the highest assessable quality for all users.

Studying the Wimbledon Masterplan structure in detail reflects that Architectural and spatial value should receive more appreciation. People tend to higher their experience from what they see and by the excitement that the event provides. It’s is very easy to look over those brilliant small details in the space creating those spectacular experiences. The challenge of the modern architect and spatial designers is to find a way to highlight those detail out and makes humanity realise the hidden brilliance around them. Nevertheless, it is almost impossible to overlook the detail Wimbledon Championship provides because of the strong characteristics that sink into every detail. The traditions, loyalty and a touch of class is everywhere around you. For that reason, the club remain to be one of the strongest images of the sports architecture world and holds that luminous image of the whole Wimbledon region.