Calculating the safe capacity of a stadium: Applying methods for assessment capacity on example of Konya City Stadium


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KURUMAK M., Uysal M.

A/Z ITU Journal of the Faculty of Architecture, vol.19, no.2, pp.471-485, 2022 (Scopus) identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 19 Issue: 2
  • Publication Date: 2022
  • Doi Number: 10.5505/itujfa.2022.58260
  • Journal Name: A/Z ITU Journal of the Faculty of Architecture
  • Journal Indexes: Scopus, TR DİZİN (ULAKBİM)
  • Page Numbers: pp.471-485
  • Keywords: Crowd control, Emergency evacuation, Safe capacity, Stadium, Stadium regulations
  • Gazi University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

© 2022, Istanbul Teknik Universitesi, Faculty of Architecture. All rights reserved.Following the Hillsborough disaster (1989) which draws a very clear perspective on the football culture of the 20th century and the status of stadiums around the world, many of decisions about structure and organization were made for the stadiums in the Taylor Report published in England. To prevent recurrence of disasters, the stadium capacity issues were also emphasized among the decisions, and some sets of methods were developed to determine the final (official) ca-pacity. In this paper, the criteria and the methods which are stated in national/ international regulations were gathered in a sequence. Then this sequence was implemented in a case study, Konya City Stadium which is one of the Turkey’s EURO 2024 Candidate Bid Dossier stadiums. In the regulations, stadium capacity is classified as holding capacity, entry capacity, exit capacity and capacity of emergency exits. The final capacity is determined by whichever is the lowest. The local authorities determine that first three capacities by their subjective opinions. Be-cause of that, mostly the capacity of emergency exits was emphasized in the study. This capacity, which is especially important for emergencies, was emphasized and the stadium was evaluated based on their capacities and evacuation times over all stands. As result, it was determined that the regulation criteria were not provided in some stands, however several suggestions were made based on the existing applications about how already built stadiums can be refurbished to follow the regulation.