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RACECOURSE ARCHITECTURE
New
Book Documents the Architectural Development of Thoroughbred Racecourses
Acanthus
Press (New York) and Turnberry
Consulting (London) announce the release of Racecourse Architecture,
the first comprehensive survey of racecourse buildings across the world
throughout the past four centuries. Written by Paul Roberts who has been
involved in the planning and designing of racecourses for many years, and
Isabelle Taylor, the new book charts the hitherto untold story of the
grandstands, clubhouses, saddling sheds, totalizators and other associated
structures that evoke in bricks and mortar the rich history of thoroughbred
racing.
Racecourses are the stage upon
which the drama of the thoroughbred is played out, and their buildings are
crucial ingredients in creating the pageantry and theater that are integral
to the popularity of the sport. While the best designed racecourse in the
world would struggle to attract spectators if it failed to host good racing,
physical setting can make or break a racegoer’s experience. Design is the key
to creating the raceday experience that draws spectators, jockeys, owners,
and trainers to the world’s best racecourses again and again. Yet the
architecture of thoroughbred racecourses has not been extensively covered in
the chronicles of sporting architecture or in the plentiful literature about
racing.
Racecourse Architecture
sets out to redress this neglect. In two sections, it recounts the history of
thoroughbred racecourse architecture, first charting the dramatic shifts in
the nature of racecourse environments over the sport’s lifetime, and secondly
profiling eight individual tracks in a series of case studies. Formulated to
complement the chronology, the case studies offer a deeper look at some of
the most important eras and racecourses in the long and varied trajectory of
racing architecture. Featured sites include the Hippodrome de Chantilly (France),
the remarkably beautiful Club
Hipico de Santiago (Chile), Gordon Kauffman’s Art Deco
masterpiece, Santa
Anita Park (California), and the glass-and-steel Singapore Turf Club
complex in Kranji (Singapore).
Publication
date: March 15, 2013
11.2” X
9.4”, 272 pages
Hardcover:
$65
180
photographs, 95 in color
ISBN:
978-0-926494-83-1
Praise
for Racecourse Architecture:
“Racecourses as an
architectural genre have been ignored for so many years. It is therefore a
welcomed treat to view a book that is so beautifully compiled, wonderfully
illustrated, well researched, and brings out the depth and complexity of the
subject on an international basis.”
―Rod Sheard, Senior
Principal of Populous and designer of London and Sydney Olympic Stadiums
“This is a hugely important
book and will be very valuable to anybody lucky enough to be redeveloping
their racecourse for the next generation of horsemen and racegoers. It is a
tool which we would dearly have loved to have had when we rebuilt Ascot Racecourse
in the early part of this century. I congratulate the authors and
publishers for the exhaustive research that has gone into this work.”
― The Duke of Devonshire,
former Her Majesty's Representative at Ascot
*
Paul Roberts is a
director of Turnberry Consulting, a London-based development strategy
consultancy created to assist landowners to develop real estate projects
driven by quality and functionality. Roberts has extensive experience acting
as strategic consultant to racecourses, including Ascot and York Racecourses
in the UK, Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Leopardstown Racecourse in
Ireland, and Saratoga Race Course and Belmont Park in New York.
Isabelle Taylor read
for a BA in the History of Art at the University of Cambridge, followed by an
MA in the History of Art at the Courtauld Institute of Art. The pair has
previously jointly authored The
Spa: Saratoga’s Legendary Race Course (2011), an architectural
history of Saratoga Race Course, and University
Planning and Architecture: The Search for Perfection (2010), a historical study of
the architecture of universities from the Middle Ages to the twenty-first
century.
Acanthus Press
publishes at the intersection of material culture and architectural history.
Our award-winning books chronicle the lost histories of houses and objects,
of clients and designers. From New York to Los Angeles, from St. Paul to
Miami, Acanthus Press seeks to publish the undiscovered, the
underappreciated, the rare, and the exceptional.
Turnberry is a
management consultancy created to assist landowners in developing real estate
projects driven by quality and functionality. It provides development
strategy advice across a range of varied and challenging projects in the US,
UK, Europe and Australia. Its expertise lies in three specific project
sectors, namely: education, science and technology; estate development and
suburban regeneration; and sport, in particular thoroughbred racing.
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Santa
Anita Park, California, 1934
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Singapore
Turf Club, Kranji, Singapore
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Agua
Caliente, Tijuana, Mexico
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