Sports Architecture Firms
Erwin Beatz
Stadiums witness mind-boggling energy of people who celebrate a sport, dynamic performances of teams who struggle for victory, and an enthusiastic environment like no other. To capture this experience through design requires a momentous architecture, breath-taking identity, and spatial encounter that create a lasting impression.
The firm established in 2003 has designed ground-breaking projects in the field of public-use architecture which includes sports, cultural, and transportation buildings. The practice is defined by thorough analysis and site-responsive designs that are effectual and minimal. The eccentricity is reflected in the designs of dynamic Konya City Stadium in Turkey, Sivas Stadium in Trimo, and Mersin Stadium in Turkey.
Located in Sao Paulo, the firm was established in 1999 with a key focus on residential and health sector projects. However, over the last two decades, the firm has emerged as a preeminent firm in sports facility design. Popularly known for the Maracan and Pernambuco arena which were the venues for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, the firm has also designed Pacaembu Stadium, Ponte Preta, and Gremio arenas.
Founded in 1955, HOK has been a progressing design firm with its spectacular work in the domain of architecture, urban design, sustainable design, and landscape architecture. The firm has created a niche in the world of sports architecture with its prominent projects such as Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta and Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. An amalgamation of technology and innovation is one of the key aspects of their design such as a retractable roof for natural lighting in the Mercedes Benz Stadium and real-time information of players monitored through fiber optics in the proposed Rugby Stadium. Besides the latter projects, their other work includes Las Vegas Ballpark, Little Caesars Arena and Hard Rock Stadium Modernization.
An engineering and architecture design firm has been engaged in multidisciplinary projects across 17 different countries. In the category of stadium design, their projects New San Mames Stadium, and Pasaron Stadium located in Spain are examples of stellar design.
Hangzhou Olympic Sports Stadium, scheduled to host 2022 Asian Games, has been a magnificent design by the firm. With its offices throughout the world, NBBJ has a stronghold in healthcare, commercial, sports, and public use projects. Other noteworthy stadium designs by the practice are Paul Brown Stadium, Staples Center in LA, and renovation work for Lexington Center and the University of California, Pauley Pavilion.
Alongside building its name in architecture, urbanism, art, and stage design, the firm has set a strong foot in stadium design as well. The journey of the firm, in fact, began by winning the competition for Football Stadium Maribor. Arena Borisov in Belarus, designed keeping in view the context of the site and The Ring football stadium in Slovenia driving its name from the impactful form, are examples of flawless designs by the practice.
With projects such as Yankee Stadium in New York, London Olympic Stadium, T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, International Convention center in Sydney in their portfolio, Populous has established itself as the leading firm in sports architecture. Their work spans across more than three decades, starting in 1983, with projects all over the world. The offices located in UK, USA, Australia, India, China, Italy, and Dubai have designed more than 3,000 projects with an estimated value of $40 billion. In addition to the design of sports architectural design, the firm provides services such as branding, wayfinding and graphics, interior design, and event planning. For the exemplary work, the firm has been awarded over 200 national and international awards.
The US-based firm focuses on stadiums, arenas, and commercial buildings. Since it started in 1969, the firm has setup its stronghold in sports architecture with multiple projects such as MLS Soccer Stadiums Rio Tinto, and Talen Energy. Furthermore, with international stadiums such as Incheon Football Stadium in South Korea and Tele2 Arena in Sweden, and spectacular designs of Louis Armstrong Stadium and Grandstand Stadium in New York. Their designs seek innovation and sustainability as seen in the Louis Armstrong Stadium which is the first naturally ventilated tennis stadium.
The global architecture firm with its bases across the world has designed stadiums for a diverse scale ranging from Gooding Field Amherst College in Amherst, BC Place Stadium renovation, Harvard University Soccer Stadium at Soldiers Field, and Wrigley Field in Chicago.
Every spring, the editors of Building Design+Construction survey the nation's largest architecture, engineering, and construction firms to identify the most prominent design and construction firms across 25 building sectors and specialty categories. Meet the Giants 400.
For more than 50 years, Kansas City has served as the capital of the sports architecture world. And the Midwestern city shows no sign of giving up the moniker, one it originated in large part thanks to the simultaneous projects encapsulating the Truman Sports Complex: Arrowhead Stadium and what is now Kauffman Stadium.
But the story of sports architecture captures far more than a single project. The Truman Sports Complex, instead, signified the birth of a new era of stadium design, an era that architects throughout Kansas City created through relationships, strategy and fresh perspectives.
Labinski dutifully researched sports venues across the country, understanding when leases were coming up and noting an expected boom in sports stadium construction. It may not have happened immediately after the 1968 Truman Sports Complex, but Labinksi moved on from Kivett & Myers and worked with others to create Devine, James, Labinski & Myers in 1973. His DJLM firm allowed each partner to pursue projects as they pleased and Labinski set his sights on sports clients, expanding on relationships he formed at Kivett & Myers. But his firm was small and was losing jobs to larger firms. The turning point for Labinski came when he pitched his concepts for the Hoosier Dome project in Indianapolis. The larger Kansas City-based HNTB won the project based on their size but were basically required to bring Labinski into the fold by project owners. He then made the move to HNTB, bringing with him five other architects.
By 1983, though, the group wanted more autonomy outside of an engineering firm and started a dedicated sports practice as the new Kansas City office of HOK, one of the largest architecture firms in the world. That move, which led to what is now Populous, paved the way for Kansas City to continue cement capital status.
Not only did Labinski bring more than a dozen sports clients from HNTB to HOK, he started what was a first for the architecture industry: Instead of local branches handling projects regionally, the Kansas City-based HOK office (current-day Populous) took on all projects.
With sports architecture knowledge centered in Kansas City, the talent started building. To attract the best sports architects, you simply needed to go to Kansas City. And instead of trying to lure them away from the city, firms started planting their own flags in the soil, opening offices in the City of Fountains.
Miller, who has been with Populous since it was the original HOK in 1987, starting as a student before going full-time in 1989, has seen the firm grow from 45 people to 730 people in 18 global offices. Kansas City became about market share. The pool of talent to focus on sports resided in Kansas City, largely from people like Miller who had moved there for that opportunity.
Then 1992 happened and the Labinski-led HOK Sports designed Camden Yards and opened it to Baltimore baseball fans. More than simply looking beyond multipurpose buildings, the Major League Baseball building craze was started in a sports-specific way nobody had really ever seen. And HOK Sports (present-day Populous) was in control.
Sure, as times have changed, HKS in Texas, Dan Meis in New York, Rossetti in Detroit and Gensler in Los Angeles all have made waves in the sports world, but even many of those firms are stocked full of former Kansas City-based architects.
Miller says that Camden Yards project, which was really born off the minor league Pilot Field in Buffalo, served as a blueprint for urban ballparks that has lasted for decades, even down to the Fiserv Forum arena in Milwaukee and new projects that build in mixed-use opportunities around the park, such as the new MLB stadium in Atlanta. NFL work has been aplenty for Populous and even collegiate projects have helped define a new strategy. Major League Soccer signifies a recent growth point for sports architecture, while esports will offer the newest growth point.
That can be seen vividly even today in London where the Populous-designed Tottenham stadium brings in learnings for both NFL and soccer designs to create what Capstack calls two different sports-specific designs in one venue thanks to the transformational abilities of the field and seating.
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