The professional hockey arena in the city: an exploration into the symbiotic relationship between a major event centre and the urban fabric

Abstract

Hockey is more than just a game in Canada; it’s a true passion that unites millions nationwide. Communities of like-minded people form into fanbases, supporting ‘their’ team. Often, these fans view their team’s home stadium or arena as hallowed grounds. Treating them as sacred spaces for their community to come together to pronounce their love for their team and the game of hockey. However, unlike many religious spaces, the arena is only open to the public for select amounts of time. Comparatively, the arena is closed to the public far less than it is available, creating a unique condition within its urban context. Through the arena’s morphology, the facility’s scale has enlarged to multiple city blocks (800,000 - 1,000,000 square feet) to provide the services required to hold over 17,000 spectators. Additionally, the arena topology is an “inward- facing architecture” looking away from the street, not emphasizing creating a daily relationship with its urban context. This thesis looks to challenge this notion and better understand ways to integrate the arena into the daily urban environment. The research will use frameworks that define a successful professional hockey arena: the history of professional hockey, the socio-cultural impacts of hockey in Canada, architectural history, and economics. While also looking at concepts to better integrate the arena in its urban context from symbiosis, community engagement, and street-level architecture. These frameworks will then be synthesized into a new professional arena proposal in Ottawa, Ontario. Ultimately, the question guiding the research is: how can a National Hockey League (NHL) arena have a symbiotic relationship with its urban context in the downtown core of Ottawa?