The Arena - Barton
Its monumental size and grandeur, as well as its practical and efficient organization for producing spectacles and controlling the large crowds, make the Arena one of the great architectural monuments existing on Gaia.
The Arena is a vast ellipse with tiers of seating for 50,000 spectators around a central elliptical arena. Below the wooden arena floor, there is a complex set of rooms and passageways for wild beasts and other provisions for staging spectacles. Eighty walls radiate from the center of arena and support vaults for passageways, stairways and the tiers of seats. At the outer edge, circumferential arcades link each level and the stairways between levels.
The three tiers of arcades are faced by three-quarter columns and entablatures. Above them is an attic story with Corinthian pilasters and small square window openings in alternate bays. At the top, brackets and sockets carry the masts from which a canopy for shade is suspended.
