Populous (company)

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Populous
Industry Architecture
Founded 1983
Number of locations
Kansas City (USA) (Headquarters)
London, (UK)
Brisbane (Australia)
New York, San Francisco, Denver, Boston, Knoxville (USA)
Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)
New Delhi (India)
Bhubaneswar (India)
Hong Kong (Hong Kong)
Area served
World
Services
  • Sports, events, conference and exhibition centre architecture
  • Interior design
  • Environmental Branding
  • Wayfinding
  • Events planning
  • Overlay
  • Masterplanning
  • Landscape Architecture
  • Sustainable design consulting
  • Facilities operations analysis
  • Aviation experience design
Website populous.com

Populous (formerly HOK Sport Venue Event) is an American global architectural firm specializing in the design of sports facilities and convention centers, as well as planning of major special events.

The firm enjoys a dominant role in the design of sporting stadiums and arenas, including such globally prominent facilities as the new Yankee Stadium in New York, Wembley Stadium in London, Stadium Australia in Sydney, Wimbledon Centre Court, Minneapolis' Target Field, San Francisco's AT&T Park, Duluth's AMSOIL Arena, Chicago's United Center arena, Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati, Pittsburgh's Heinz Field, Houston's NRG Stadium, Arsenal's Emirates Stadium, Philippine Arena in Bocaue, the renovation of Chicago's Wrigley Field, University of Phoenix Stadium, the renovation of Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg for the 2010 World Cup, London's 2012 Olympic Stadium, Sochi's Fisht Olympic Stadium, Kazan Arena, Sun Life Stadium and Marlins Park in the Miami area, Ascot Racecourse, New York's Citi Field, Benfica's Estádio da Luz in Lisbon, the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, the O2 Arena in London, Berlin, and Dublin, and Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore.

Populous formerly operated as HOK Sport Venue Event, which was part of the HOK Group. In January 2009, Populous was created through a management buyout, becoming independently owned and operated. It is reported to be one of the largest architecture firms in the world.[1][2][3]

History

Company development

Logo of the former HOK Sports

In 1983, HOK under Jerry Sincoff created a sports group (initially called the Sports Facilities Group and later changed to HOK Sport Venue Event). The firm initially consisted of eight architects in Kansas City, and grew to employ 185 people by 1996.[4]

On several projects, HOK Sport had teamed with international design practice LOBB Partnership, which maintained offices in London, England, and Brisbane, Australia. On HOK Sport's 15th anniversary in November 1998, the firm merged with LOBB. The new practice retained headquarters in all three cities.

The Kansas City, Missouri, office was first based in the city's Garment District in the Lucas Place office building.[5] In 2005, it moved into its headquarters at 300 Wyandotte in the River Market neighborhood in a new building it designed, on land developed as an urban renewal project through tax incentives from the city's Planned Industrial Expansion Authority. It was the first major company to relocate to the neighborhood in several decades.[6] In March 2009, HOK Sport Venue Event changed its name to Populous after a managers’ buyout by HOK Group.[5]

In October 2015, Populous relocated to its new headquarters at the newly renovated Board of Trade building at 4800 Main street near the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City. [7]

The company is one of several Kansas City-based sports design firms that trace their roots to Kivett and Myers which designed the Truman Sports Complex which was one of the first modern large single purpose sports stadiums (previously, stadiums were designed for multipurpose use). Other firms with sports design presence in Kansas City that trace their roots to Kivett include Ellerbe Becket Inc. and HNTB Corp.. 360 Architecture is also based in Kansas City.[8]

"Retro" era of baseball parks

The red brick facade of Camden Yards was designed by Populous to blend in to the surrounding neighborhood of downtown Baltimore, especially the nearby B&O Warehouse.

Populous is credited for spearheading a new era of baseball park design in the 1990s, beginning with Oriole Park at Camden Yards.[9] At Camden Yards, and in other stadiums built by Populous soon thereafter like Coors Field and Progressive Field, the ballpark was designed to incorporate aesthetic elements of the city's history and older "classic ballparks." Camden Yards's red brick facade emulates the massive B&O Warehouse that dominates the right field view behind Eutaw Street,[10] whereas Progressive Field's glass and steel exterior "call to mind the drawbridges and train trestles that crisscross the nearby Cuyahoga River."[11] Starting with the Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati in 2003, a number of Populous Sport's stadiums featured more contemporary and even futuristic designs. Subsequent stadium exteriors featuring this motif opened in Washington and Minnesota.[9]

In addition to moving away from the concrete exteriors of the "cookie-cutter" multi-purpose stadiums that preceded the new parks, Populous incorporated other innovative touches: natural grass playing surfaces (instead of artificial turf), asymmetrical field dimensions, various park-specific idiosyncrasies (like Tal's Hill), and less foul territory that would keep fans farther from the diamond.[12][13][14] And because the stadiums were designed for baseball instead of several sports, the sightlines were "uniformly excellent."[15]

Camden Yards was not only hugely popular with baseball fans. The success of a new ballpark in downtown Baltimore convinced many cities to invest public funds in their own new ballparks to help revitalize struggling urban neighborhoods.[14] From 1992 to 2012, HOK Sport/Populous were the lead architects on 14 Major League Baseball stadiums and helped renovate four existing stadiums.[16]

Criticisms

Populous's designs across Major League Baseball have become so prevalent that some critics have asserted that the distinctiveness that was originally found in early "retro" ballparks is impossible to maintain: "There are nearly 20 [new ballparks] around the league, [so] their heterogeneity has come to seem altogether homogenous." Whereas "classic" ballparks like Fenway Park were given strange dimensions simply because of the limitations provided by the plots of land on which the parks were built, new stadiums do not feature such restrictions. One sportswriter said the attempt emulate the old parks in this way is "contrived."[15]

In addition, a number of commentators have criticized what they see as a tendency to cater new ballparks toward wealthier ticket buyers, such as with expanded use of luxury suites instead of cheaper, conventional seating.[15][17][18][19] Several writers have noted that upper deck seating at new ballparks may actually be farther away from the field than in the older parks, partly as a result of these new upper decks being pushed higher by rows of luxury suites.[20]

One writer in The New Yorker said it is "not quite right to credit or blame Populous" for trends in their new stadiums—as it is ultimately team owners that plan what they want in future stadiums—but they "certainly enabled" such changes.[21]

Offices

Headquarters of Populous, in Kansas City, MO, USA.

Sports projects

Association football

Australian football

American football

NFL and College football

Arena Football League

Baseball

Major League Baseball

Minor league baseball

College baseball

Basketball

NBA

WNBA

College Basketball

Ice hockey

NHL

AHL

ECHL

Rugby League

Lacrosse

Multipurpose

Venue projects

Convention and Civic centers

Event projects

Olympics

National Football League

(selected events)

Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball All-Star Game

  • 1993 – Baltimore, Maryland
  • 1997 – Cleveland, Ohio
  • 1999 – Boston, Massachusetts
  • 2000 – Atlanta, Georgia
  • 2001 – Seattle, Washington
  • 2002 – Milwaukee, Wisconsin
  • 2003 – Chicago, Illinois
  • 2004 – Houston, Texas
  • 2005 – Detroit, Michigan
  • 2006 – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
  • 2007 – San Francisco, California
  • 2009 – St. Louis, Missouri
  • 2013 – Queens, New York City, New York
  • 2014 – Minneapolis, Minnesota

Association Football events

(Selected Events)

Other events

(Selected Events)

References

  1. Kevin Collison, "HOK Sport Venue now stands alone", The Kansas City Star, January 5, 2009.[dead link]
  2. Populous official website
  3. Kevin Collison, "Sports architecture firm changes name", The Kansas City Star, March 31, 2009 (access date March 31, 2009).
  4. International Directory of Company Histories, Vol.59. St. James Press, 2004
  5. 5.0 5.1 HOK Sport Venue Event changes name to Populous – Kansas City Business Journal – March 31, 2009
  6. Thanks. Now Scram – The Pitch – Kansas City – February 1, 2007
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  8. New Game Plan – Kansas City Business Journal –- June 20, 2003
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  23. Comfort Zone – Boston Globe – November 19, 2001
  24. [1]

External links