New Book on Architecture of Sports by Richard Cleary

We’re excited to share the news that architectural historian Richard Cleary has expanded his Places article, “The Architecture of Sports,” into a new book. The Architecture of the Playing Field: Shaping Space in Sport was published earlier this year by the University of Texas Press.

One of the rare essays to focus on the spatial inventions of sports, “The Architecture of Sports” examines playing fields as tactical and indeed transcendent spaces. Soccer, for example, “is all about making space and coming into space. It is a kind of architecture on the field,” Cleary writes. Building on the themes of his 2017 article, Cleary’s new book explores how radio and television have shaped spatial experiences of sports, as well as how such experiences overlap with, and complicate, the politics of race and gender.

“After workshopping my thoughts on spatial practices in sports as a scholar, I wanted to test them with a broader audience,” said Cleary, a professor emeritus at University of Texas at Austin. “I turned to Places and was delighted with the responses. Some readers were scholars or practitioners of the built environment, but others found their way to the essay from a more general interest in sports. Together, they strengthened my desire to expand my Places article into a book.”

You can read more about Cleary’s new book — and order a copy — here.