Join SSI on Tuesday, March 5, 2026 in 248 Townshend Hall to hear from Ohio State Professor of Architecture, Dr. Benjamin Flowers to learn about the evolution of football (soccer) stadiums.
This presentation is concerned with the stadium—in particular (but not exclusively) the football (soccer) stadium.
The past three decades witnessed a revolution in global sport. Much of this, most of it for many, was about money. The sums attached to the game exploded. The cost of tickets skyrocketed. The transfer fees and wages for players are now eye-watering. Broadcast fees and revenues dwarf grow without end. For many, money, for better and often worse, is now the defining element of modern sport.
There was another revolution taking place in those years—one around the pitch but even more significant for this seminar. The stadium, a building type that for decades, even centuries, sat largely outside of the purview of architectural judgement was, rather unexpectedly, catapulted into the upper tiers of architectural expression. The money that poured into so many other aspects of the game was now reimagining and reinventing the space in which play to place.
Today the stadium is in any given city around the world likely the single largest, most complex, and most expensive structure in the built landscape. In many cities it might be one of the only structures designed by a world-famous, even Pritzker Prize-winning architect. This presentation looks at the transformation of this building type, with a special focus on projects since the 2000s that propelled the architectural ambitions of the stadium forward.
Benjamin Flowers is a Professor of Architecture at the Knowlton School of Architecture in the College of Engineering at The Ohio State University. From 2020-2024 he was the Associate Director of the Knowlton School. Prior to joining the Knowlton School, he was a Professor of Architecture in the College of Design at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he also served as Associate Vice Provost.
His research examines architecture as a form of social activity situated within the intersecting spheres of politics, culture, and economy. Looking in particular at stadiums and skyscrapers, he focuses on the ways these structures are constructed, the ends to which they are used, and the nature of public reaction to them.
He is the author of several books including Beautiful Moves: Designing Stadia (LundHumphries, 2018) a survey of innovative architecture for sport stadiums and arenas; Sport and Architecture (Routledge, 2017) a global survey of the stadium and its socio-political significance, and Skyscraper: The Politics and Power of Building New York City in the Twentieth Century (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2009), named a 2010 Outstanding Academic Title in Architecture by Choice Magazine and one of the “50 Greatest Commercial Real Estate Books of All Time.” He is also the editor of Architecture in an Age of Uncertainty (Ashgate Press, 2014), an examination of the political economy of architecture during the 2008 global recession.
From 2021-2025 he served on the Executive Board of the International Association for Sports and Leisure Facilities (IAKS), where he is also a member of the Stadia and Arenas Expert Circle. IAKS is the leading global non-profit focused on sport architecture development for both elite athletics (World Cup and Olympic Games) and sport for all facilities. Flowers is also a member of the Executive Board of AIA Columbus.
Flowers and his work have been featured on the BBC World Service, NPR, Marketplace, New York Times, Washington Post, Philadelphia Inquirer, Chicago Tribune, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Boston Globe, Crain’s Cleveland Business, Columbus Dispatch, and Chronicle of Higher Education, among others. He appeared in several episodes of National Geographic's Superstructures: Engineering Marvels (seasons 1 and 2).
Dr. Flowers’ research has been recognized by Columbia University’s Buell Center for Architecture, Cornell University’s John Nolen Fellowship, the Society of Architectural Historians, and the Hagley Museum and Library. In recognition of his teaching, he was awarded the Georgia Tech School of Architecture’s 2017 Dean William L. Fash Award for Teaching Excellence and in 2008 he was awarded the Outstanding Teacher Award from the College of Design. He received his PhD from the University of Minnesota and his BA from Wesleyan University. Dr. Flowers grew up in Latin America and Eastern Europe.