Phillips Exeter Academy Stadium Competition
A Platform for Athletic Diversity
This proposal for the Exeter Stadium takes a critical look at the role of a football stadium at a school where the culture of athletics has become more diversified. Our scheme attempts to make the football game one of several programs possible on the site. Therefore, we propose a symbolic platform for diversity that would allow a wide range and scale of activities to take place. The design is calibrated to sponsor these additional uses that include student dances, ultimate frisbee and al fresco concerts.
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Client: Phillips Exeter Academy
Location: Exeter, NH
Year: 1994
Status: Unbuilt
Design Scheme
Our scheme is conceived of as a "still life" on a large plinth composed of the concession stand, press box and upper bleachers. The result has both de-monumentalized the image of a stadium in the New England landscape and enhanced the promenade of the spectator, via a large ramp, to the mid-level of the bleachers. This new ramped sequence ties into an existing allée of trees that connects the athletic fields to the center of the campus.
Plinth
The plinth itself houses functions such as team locker facilities, the trainer's rooms and a large garage for maintenance equipment. Located across the field, a small visitor's pavilion is proposed that houses similar facilities surmounted by a two-story scaffold. This structure allows for the display of athletic banners and numerous forms of student self-expression.