Visual Techniques

Madison Square Garden, NYC

Madison Square Garden has Balance, Symmetry, Regularity, Simplicity, Unity, Economy, Understatement, Predictability, Stasis, Subtlety, Neutrality, Opacity, Consistency, Accuracy, Flatness, Singularity, Sequentiality, Sharpness, Repetition.

Kezar Stadium (1922-1989), SFC

Kezar Stadium had Instability, Asymmetry, Irregularity, Simplicity, Fragmentation, Economy, Understatement, Spontaneity, Activeness, Subtlety, Accent, Transparency, Variation, Distortion, Depth, Singularity, Sequentiality, Diffusion, Repetition.

Compare & Contrast

Both of these stadiums are in highly populated super dense metropolitans. Although when Kezar was in use for a professional team San Francisco was far from where New York was but today the two cities have more in common then not which is why Madison Square Garden (MSG) is such a good example of how a stadium can become a crown jewel of sorts. Garnering world wide recognition and attracting a vast array of events, MSG is that anchor to the big apple. What motivates me to get involved in this aspect of design is the thought that goes into not just how the stadium looks but how it acts. MSG doesn't have a parking lot instead it utilizes public transportation (being the only pro venue with a rail station located directly underneath). San Francisco is facing a decision regarding how to keep the 49ers in the city and I believe the best option is Kezar. Imagine a world class multi use stadium open to the public nestled in the edge of Golden Gate Park with a living roof and a BART station underneath! That's what motives me...

Contrast

Here lets focus on how the outfield wall (representing a split line between the playing surface and the crowd) presents a direct design opportunity for contrast and how it is addressed in contemporary ballparks.

Green Monster, Fenway Park

Fenway Park home of the Boston Red Sox is famous (or infamous) for how they contrast the playing surface by contrasting a short right field with a 37 foot high green wall. Separated from the outfield grass by the tan of the warning track dirt the wall shoots up in the sky and adds unique features to the game no other ballpark in the majors can offer. One example of this is a mysterious door home team players go in and out of. Another example of how this contrast creates new elements is line drives that normally are catchable must now be played off of the wall. the main way i see this as a successful exhibition in contrast is that it is so different, unconventional, and truly extreme yet feels as if it belongs there comfortably nested in the boston sky. On top of that the seats that are on top of the wall brings the fans a new experience and are some of the hardest tickets to get.

Tal's Hill, Minute Maid Park

Here we have a feeble attempt at contrast. Above is Tal's Hill a 90 foot wide hill on a 30 degree slope. Not to mention the pole. All of which is in play. Even though these features happened in historic baseball parks, when they did it was because they were natural features of the sight, Tal's Hill is purely decorative and in that it fails. While it has produced some highly replayed highlights the down side of the danger of playing on a hill outweighs the associated glamor, especially for the players. Wikipedia states a petition by fans to remove the hill and pole was started but not followed through. Without any function or rational it is empty contrast which is why it feels out of place.

Movement

Here is a literal example of movement adding to the user experience. When a home run is hit by the home team the train (visible in the top left corner) in the stadium does a lap around the stadium. The movement of the train is true to its real life counterpart, steam, horn, and chugga chugga. This movement helps to make the other wise stationary stadium come to life and in a game which is called slow by some it keeps the attention bouncing around.

Here is an example of movement in a stationary implied way. The exterior of this stadium is heavy in implied movement. Curves which are synonyms with movement are everywhere on the exterior. The roof is curves all the way out tho the edges of the side, The "o" logo is round, and the slant of the front two pillars all make my head spin in a small circle similar to a slight cycle. In other words the stadium never stops moving, it is always interesting.

Dimension - Depth - Space

This is a render of the inside of the new Tottenham Stadium in north east London. Dimension, depth, and space are going crazy in this picture. Look at the size of the people on the field, so small that one cant help but feel the stadium is gigantic. The slanted angle of the field combined with the flags in the foreground and the big screen in the background create another sense of distance that is quite large. The shadows on the field given off by the players are interacting with the light high above the field to add to the ease of understanding depth and dimension in this photo.

My favorite and most exciting part of this photo takes a radical position on space, depth, and dimension: The Single Teared bleachers. The tears are designed to close the amount of space between the pitch and the players. The size of the space covered in a fluid blanket of humans will ensure another dimension to home field advantage. The depth it adds to the stadium is the contrast with the other bleaches and the difference between the two creates contrast and juxtaposition which works so well. It uses the principles of visual communication to manifest a physically imposing wall of fanatics and is quite a achievement bound to be repeated.

Color and Tone

This is Shea Stadium, the former home of the New York Mets baseball team. It was infamously know for the color on the outside in the same way a pig wearing lipstick is. The giant dully sterile concrete grey building met with much complaints when it was unveiled. The failure of the colors to welcome the user was a major concern so the designers added orange and blue panels of color sporadically to the exterior "fixing" the problem. While the added color was a nice addition it's lack of consistence or flow made for a confusion among users as to what it was doing or what purpose it served. The light Tone of the colors accomplishes the goal of playfulness, especially when interacting with the dark tones of concrete. The color and tone of the panels don't interact with the scale of the building in a way that makes the user feel as though they are taking part in a very important event, it makes it feel more like a kids park or small scale circus.

Inside the stadium however tone and color are used effectively to distinguish between the different levels of seating. That helps people in way-finding and is a reference for ticket sales. This is a common technique in stadium design. Overall the usage of color and tone on the exterior is where this stadium fails. The panels of color are gingerbread house design and because of there ambiguity and scale it is apparent to the users passive thoughts and joked about with there active thoughts.

World Class Stadium Design

LINE

Lines are very blatantly active in this stadium located in china. Together they exemplify the Gestalt theory of the sum of all parts is more important then the individual parts. The lines by them selves add motion to the stadium as the rise from the bottom and curve around the top as if to hug the building but as a whole they form a false shell around the interior of the stadium. Its fitting nickname is the Birds nest which also represents a visual buffet of lines in design.

MOVEMENT

In this example of Movement in design the active aspect is in the planning of the design. Both the roof and the field sod can be literally moved. This accomplishes the designers goal in getting the public to interpret the stadium as "world class", I mean its roof and field can be retracted! Although I'm not convinced the design opportunity to exploit movement to really enhance the experience of the user - look at where the roof hides when retracted...

DIMENSION

Depth and Perspective are key points for exploiting Dimension in communicating messages visually. And if you have ever rode the tube to Wembley stadium in London then you know how much the new crescent that looms above the stadium adds to the perceived dimension of the stadium. It is very effective at exploiting the users visually perception and leads them to believe that the stadium is multidimensional or something past 3D. I know I've been there.

SCALE

They say everything is bigger in Texas, I haven't been there yet but from the design of this billion dollar stadium that sports a 60 year long HD TV - I'm sure it's true. When looking at the entrance of this stadium one cant help but recall the Greek's "Golden Mean" and "Golden Rectangle" rational. This stadium though brand new this year is a classic representation of the intrinsic visual elegance inherent in using that rational in ones designs first discovered thousands of years ago...

SHAPE

Here form followed function beautifully. The way the stadium contours around the bay adds a sought after stress to the experience of visiting the park. The innovative way the seating is shaped around the pitch brings people closer to the action and removed obstructed views radically improving the visual communication sports or entertainment for that matter rely on. The repeated arches along the dock one sees only adds to the sense of stability and grad-jour which were likely both sought after qualities when designing the ballpark. The shape they use conveniently exposes the user to expansive views of the bay area further communicating through vision that the stadium is "world class".

The Good, The Bad, and The Gerhy

The Good

This design is for now the one going forward in brooklyn for the new jersey nets. It uses movement, scale, dimension, shape, and line fluidly. The roof and midsection are slightly transparent similar to the controversial grates on the outside of the federal building. Its glow gives it a nice and welcoming ambiance.

The Bad

here's the same stadium in the day. Big difference. Now the same principals are going on but are not as effective without the glow of night. The movement and slant of the left side of the building looks like an angry bird, not exactly welcoming.

The Gerhy

Now here's Frank Gerhy's design. It was originally selected but has since been scraped fir the above design. The lines are so round and not sharp like Santa's belly welcoming everyone to the insides of this jolly stadium. The roof incorporates what looks like a roof garden increasing the calm and user experience. The slight slant of the walkway looks similar to his museum in new york and is a very naturally mapped pathway. It glows at night and looks like a park at night. It's scale is in a nice ratio with the neighboring buildings which have much sharper corners yet bend for softness. It's just a real delight and something to strive for in form.

In budget that's another story...

What Does This Say to You?

To some it may just say "I'm a another place baseball is played" but to me it says much more. The right field wall, tall and made of bricks says "I'm difficulty and sturdy". The peep holes offer a free sample to passer-byes saying "give it a try". The large high definition scoreboard conveys professional and technological superiority saying "we have the very best". The over sized glove 501 feet away establishes a larger then life experience especially when neighboring a just as cartoonish coca-cola bottle both say "Hey, tonight your a kid again". The Design team behind the interior and exterior of AT&T Park did a fabulous job in visual insuring a great fan experience.

Some standard characteristics are the out field fence, scoreboard location is typically in the center, lights in center field, bleacher seats in the outfield, and the dimensions of the field share common aspects as most ball parks.

Mind Games

Five Routes Puzzle: Find the routes for the five men to get home without crossing or making a diagonal move.

A very static attempt by friend X at solving the problem likely rooted in trial and error

Similar approach like when chess is compared to checkers

Next Square Puzzel: Which is the next square in the sequence?

A wild guess

Two wild guesses

Visual Design Hierarchy

Muni vs. Muni

Why is it that the MUNI maps for the light rail are so different then the MUNI bus lines? I know there are many more busses and that the maps are geographically accurate - but why? Why are the street level maps so unlike the more conventional and successful mappings of the light-rail, BART, NY Subways, and the London Underground? One may retort that the London Underground and the London Bus system mapping share the same parallels in design as the San Francisco systems and I would agree but also point out that they suffer from similar understandability issues.

With all the issues surrounding specifically MUNI like cost, reliability, and service a redesign of the system mapping is well over due! Boy would I love that opportunity!

"We are also capable of directing attention toward or away from encountered stimuli based on our goals (top-down modulation)"

In Top-Down visual perception one sees what one is looking for based on accomplishing an internally driven goal. It is a bias form of perception, sort of like the saying "selective hearing". For example in this picture of...

Now depending on what your looking for, your definition of what the picture is about will be different. I like jets so to me it's about jets. For those who are into land formations or farms perhaps the picture is about the fields in the background. As I focus on the jets the fields fade whereas for the field lovers the jets fade. Definitions of what one sees vary even when looking on the same thing because we see what we want to see depending on what we want to accomplish regardless of how correct the interpretation, and that my friends is what I believe to be top-down visual perception's vibe.

Photo from: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/97/F-16_and_F-16XL_aerial_top_down_view.jpg

Quote from: http://gazzaleylab.ucsf.edu/topdown-background.html