Casement Park in line for major overhaul - 40,000 all seater Stadium.

[snatter]

Casement does not need to be a world class stadium as it will never be hosting world class events

Not world class, no, but top class yes.*

Remember that the tender specs called for something along the lines of an exemplar best of breed 40k fully covered stadium. That's what the budget was meant to deliver.

Since then, in the words of the GAA,**

"the project team have substantially changed the design of the stadium concept by reducing the capacity from 40,000 to 38,000 to reduce the height. We have also developed a truss system, again to lower the height of the building substantially."

"We have changed the Andersonstown Road section of the stadium to leave it uncovered......"

These changes, espcially the removal of the roof at the Andytown Rd end, leave a stadium that is far from the exemplar building it was meant to be. Just how many people want to sit in the rain in a brand new £70 million stadium?

Once the roof was removed, a stop should have been made to look for alternative sites.


*As an aside, it is being lined up to host the Rugby World Cup.

** source: http://belfastmediagroup.com/gaa-rejects-claims-theyre-not-engaging/

[Eamonnca1]

Gotta laugh at people living in cities giving out about about the construction of tall buildings. That's like living in the country and giving out about the occasional smell of manure.

Away and live on Rathlin Island if you don't want to see any urban progress.

"Tall buildings" are not usually built in residential areas, on people's doorsteps.

In the country? No. In cities? Yes they are.

[Eamonnca1]

How many people are going to go to Casement in its present form and sit in the rain rather than under a ... oh.

[Maguire01]

Lads there are 100 different ways to do anything. Just because we have a notion that our way is the best please act with a little humility and assume other options have been taken into account and assessed. Some people have worked long and hard to make casement an option. I suspect that the entire process will be resolved with some cold hard cash.

Why would you 'assume' that other options have been assessed?

I don't know, so best not to assume, but I never heard anything to suggest that an alternative site was considered in any options appraisal.

[snatter]

Some highly critical comments on Casement's poor "Optimum Viewing Circles" from somebody who appears to know what they're talking about on an architecture forum

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1563744

I actually thought that once the GAA appointed Populous to design Casement Park stadium I thought we'd get a truly great stadium as these guys have so much experience in sport stadium design.

The first thing that jumped out at me is the fact that the stadium has no continuity. None of the stands are the same size, not one, even all the four corners are different sizes. To me this just looks silly and will take away from the aesthetics of any stadium. Even Croke Park and the Aviva look terrible, and they have unity on three sides.
The fact that the Andersonstown Road Stand is so big shouts out to be that they needed to increase the capacity to get it up to 40,000. So they just kept going back until the numbers added up. This is terrible design. The viewing distance from the back of this stand will be far to large.

In the case of a gaelic football the preferred viewing distance should be no more than 150m between the extreme corner of the field and spectator's eye, with an absolute maximum of 190m. Setting out these distances from the extreme viewing positions, such as the diagonally opposed corners of a playing field, gives a preferred viewing zone and their average configuration suggests a circle struck from the centre spot on the field, generally referred to as the 'optimum viewing circle. This circle in the case of football and rugby would have a radius of 90m.

This might sound complicated stuff but i'm sure the people at Populous know this, and if they don't they are in the wrong business. What this means is that well over half the capacity of the Andersonstown Road Stand will be outside the optimum viewing circle. The largest stands should run along the side of the pitch in the long direction.

This isn't good enough for a modern stadium.

It will definitely not be a modern stadium if the entire thing is not roofed. I hate having a ticket in Croke Park on the lower tier of the cusack stand when it rains, and lets face it we live in Ireland .. It rains

[Gabriel_Hurl]

It's some guy with 6 posts on that forum - hardly someone who "knows what they are talking about" - hell I post there and I know feck all about architecture

[Jeepers Creepers]

"To me this just looks silly "
must be architect jargon

[ziggysego]

Artist's impression of new Casement Park stadium from the Andersonstown Road.



1:250 scale model of Casement Park, available for viewing and feedback in Westwood Centre.

http://ulster.gaa.ie/2013/05/final-phase-of-consultation-for-casement-park-project/

[Hardy]

I'd hate to get sitting behind that lad with the balloons.

[Walter Cronc]

That open end is brutal!! Christ I wonder about these "designers" some times.

I'm no fan of the Aviva but could that open not have been looked at with a covered single tier instead of this!!

No one will want to be in that end of the ground!

[tommysmith]

What is the point in having open end open, is that side terraced?

[southdown]

I  personally like the open terrace, it will promote a good atmosphere akin to that of Hill 16. The ground looks great.

[Walter Cronc]

Its open seating so won't add to the atmosphere in any way!

Only purpose it will serve is people getting soaked!

I'm not being negative as the rest of the ground looks superb!

[johnneycool]

Maybe it's a big smoking area.

That's where the young bucks get the hurling balls and take off like the wind with them.

[rrhf]

I like it.  Great to see it moving forward.  I wouldnt worry about seating on the open planned area though.