Evening star., 1961-09-24
Cities
a"1 People
An Amazing
Open Space
By ROBERT ]. LEWIS

4Ou ACCO IICL NCo VI SG6cl,
the will to win and the
courage of a mountain lion
to Chamber to the topmost
seats of the new District :
stadium.
Lacking these attributes,
you decide to try anyway.
You have walked up all
the ramps, come through
the top-deck portal, and
found another So steps that
seem to go straight up.
Up you go, not daring to
look back. You are all alone
and a full round evening
moon hangs in the sky be-
hind you, roughly in
line with third base. A
sound of hammering some
where below reverberateS
deep within this mammoth
structure of steel and con-
crete that is scheduled to
open next Sunday.
When you reach the last
and highest row of seats
l15 feet above the field and
right under the projecting
roller coaster roof-you turn
around to look. You think
you are prepared. But you
are not.
Before you shimmers an
overwhelming, astonishing
open space that you could
not have possibly imagined.
It is to the right and left,
below and above, and all
about-internal and exter-
nal, flowing and static, pen
etrating and interpenetrat-
ing.
It's more than just a sight
you've never seen before.
Why is your heart beating so
fast?
THE COLD FACTS about
the $22 million stadium don't
help you very much to un-
derstand this stadium ad-
venture.
For years 1t has been ia
nous as a permanent will
o'-the-wisp."
The history was mostly
built of high hopes and deep
disappointments.
1t was first proposed in
1925 as a memorial to Theo- !.
dore Roosevelt. Over the
years it flickered brightly or
dinly - always ahead, yet
never within reach. Then
President Eisenhower signed
an enabling bill in July,
1858.
Now headlines began to
tell the same old, frustrat-
ing story Of slow progress
and quick Illustration.
Parking Fund Ban I'm, I
perils New Stadium" one
said in 1859.
"House Debate on Stadium
Bill Halted" said another a
few months later.
Finally, in June, 1860, ac-
tual construction was start
ed. Contractor Matt Nc
Closky was given Is months
to get the behometh ready
for the first Redskins game
next Sunday.
NOR CAN THE cold facts
of its structural distinctions
help you much in explain
ing the effect of this place
as you see 1t from the top
most row.
Yes, it's the Nations first
stadium that will accommo-
date both baseball and foot
ball through use of platforms
on wheels that can roll
6,400 seats for more than
300 feet on railroad tracks.
Yes, it's roof is cantilever-
ed 10 feet out over the upper
deck, and has not a single
column to interfere with a
clear view of the field.
Yes, it's engineered to
support a live load of 100
pounds a square foot-and,
as a result, $4,000 people can
clap their hands and beat
their feet in unison, with
out any fear the building will
fall down.
Yes, it's round on the
outside and egg-shaped on
the inside. But how does
this help you understand
why it makes your heart
beat faster?
TO UNDERSTAND this,
you need another clue.
You can get it from Bruno
Zevi, in his book, "Archi-
lecture as Space"
Architecture" he says,
''is like a great hollowed-out
sculpture which man enters
and apprehends by moving
about within it."
This, you begin to realize,
Is what the stadium so
spectacularly supplies an