Industry | Architecture |
---|---|
Founded | 2009 |
Headquarters | Kansas City; London; Brisbane |
Area served | Worldwide |
Services | Sports, entertainment, events, conference and exhibition center architecture |
Website | populous.com |
Populous, legally Populous Holdings, Inc., is a global architectural and design practice specializing in sports facilities, arenas and convention centers, as well as the planning and design of major special events.
Populous was created through a management buyout in January 2009, becoming independently owned and operated. It is reported to be one of the largest architecture firms in the world. [1] [2] [3] Populous formerly operated as HOK Sport Venue Event, which was part of the HOK Group.
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] The HOK Sport studio was led by architect Ron Labinski, who has been described as "the world's first sports venue architect." [5] [6]
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. [7] 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. [8] In March 2009, HOK Sport Venue Event changed its name to Populous after a managers' buyout by HOK Group. [7]
In October 2015, Populous relocated to its new Americas headquarters at the newly renovated Board of Trade building at 4800 Main street near the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City. [9]
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. [10]
Populous is credited for spearheading a new era of baseball park design in the 1990s, beginning with Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore. [11] At Camden Yards, and in other stadiums built by Populous soon thereafter, such as Coors Field in Denver and Progressive Field in Cleveland, 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 Baltimore & Ohio Warehouse at Camden Yards that dominates the right field view behind Eutaw Street, [12] whereas Progressive Field's glass and steel exterior "call[s] to mind the drawbridges and train trestles that crisscross the nearby Cuyahoga River." [13] Starting with 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, D.C., and Minnesota. [11]
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 in Houston), and less foul territory that would keep fans farther from the diamond. [14] [15] [16] And because the stadiums were designed for baseball instead of several sports, the sightlines were "uniformly excellent." [17]
Camden Yards was hugely popular with baseball fans, and its success convinced many cities to invest public funds in their own new ballparks to help revitalize struggling urban neighborhoods. [16] From 1992 to 2012, HOK Sport/Populous were the lead architects on 14 Major League Baseball stadiums and helped renovate four existing stadiums. [18]
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-classic ballparks is impossible to maintain. Some older ballparks like Fenway Park have strange dimensions because of the small parcels of land on which the parks were built. Most new stadiums are built on larger, dedicated land parcels. One sportswriter said the attempt to emulate the old parks' quirks is "contrived." [17]
Some commentators have criticized a tendency to cater new ballparks toward wealthier ticket buyers, such as with expanded numbers of luxury suites. [17] [19] [20] [21] 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. [22] 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 that the firm "certainly enabled" such changes. [23]
Minute Maid Park, nicknamed The Juice Box, is a retractable roof stadium in Houston, Texas, United States. It opened in 2000 as the ballpark of Major League Baseball's Houston Astros. It has a seating capacity of 41,168, which includes 5,197 club seats and 63 luxury suites.
Progressive Field is a stadium located in the downtown area of Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is the ballpark of the Cleveland Guardians of Major League Baseball and, together with Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, is part of the Gateway Sports and Entertainment Complex. It was ranked as MLB's best ballpark in a 2008 Sports Illustrated fan opinion poll.
Oriole Park at Camden Yards, commonly known as Camden Yards, is a baseball stadium in Baltimore, Maryland. It is the home ballpark of Major League Baseball's Baltimore Orioles, and the first of the "retro" major league ballparks constructed during the 1990s and early 2000s. It was completed in 1992 to replace Memorial Stadium. The stadium is in downtown Baltimore, a few blocks west of the Inner Harbor in the Camden Yards Sports Complex.
Sahlen Field is a baseball park in Buffalo, New York, United States. Originally known as Pilot Field, the venue has since been named Downtown Ballpark, North AmeriCare Park, Dunn Tire Park, and Coca-Cola Field. Home to the Buffalo Bisons of the International League, it opened on April 14, 1988, and can seat up to 16,600 people, making it the highest-capacity Triple-A ballpark in the United States. It replaced the Bisons' former home, War Memorial Stadium, where the team played from 1979 to 1987.
The Truman Sports Complex is a sports and entertainment facility in Kansas City, Missouri. It hosts two major league sports venues: Arrowhead Stadium, hosting the National Football League's Kansas City Chiefs, and Kauffman Stadium, hosting Major League Baseball's Kansas City Royals. The complex also hosts various other events during the rest of the year.
Petco Park is a baseball stadium located in San Diego, California. The stadium is the home ballpark for the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball (MLB).
PNC Park is a baseball stadium on the North Shore of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is the fifth home ballpark of Major League Baseball's Pittsburgh Pirates. Opened during the 2001 MLB season, PNC Park sits along the Allegheny River with a view of the Downtown Pittsburgh skyline. Constructed of steel and limestone, it has a natural grass playing surface and can seat 38,747 people for baseball. It was built just to the east of its predecessor, Three Rivers Stadium, which was demolished in 2001.
The Gateway Sports and Entertainment Complex is an entertainment complex located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. It opened in 1994 and is owned by the city of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County and is managed by the Gateway Economic Development Corporation, a non-profit group with board members who are appointed by county and city leaders.
Chukchansi Park, formerly known as Grizzlies Stadium, is a city-owned baseball stadium located in Fresno, California, United States, completed in 2002 as the home for Minor League Baseball's Fresno Grizzlies. The first game was May 1, 2002. Located in downtown Fresno, it was designed to be an anchor in the rehabilitation of the area, as other commercial development is planned in the Central Business District Loop. The ballpark is also used for music concerts, motocross events, and high school football.
Durham Bulls Athletic Park is a 10,000-seat ballpark in Durham, North Carolina, that is home to the Durham Bulls, the Triple-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays of Major League Baseball. It is also home to the Duke Blue Devils and North Carolina Central Eagles college baseball teams. The $18.5-million park opened in 1995 as the successor to Durham Athletic Park.
Four Winds Field at Coveleski Stadium is a baseball stadium in South Bend, Indiana, home to the South Bend Cubs, a minor league baseball team which plays in the Midwest League. The stadium opened in 1987, and its open concourse is considered the template for many later minor league ball parks built in the 1990s. It has a capacity of 5,000 spectators.
A ballpark, or baseball park, is a type of sports venue where baseball is played. The playing field is divided into two field sections called the infield and the outfield. The infield is an area whose dimensions are rigidly defined in part based on the placement of bases, and the outfield is where dimensions can vary widely from ballpark to ballpark. A larger ballpark may also be called a baseball stadium because it shares characteristics of other stadiums.
HOK, formerly Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum and legally HOK Group, Inc., is an American design, architecture, engineering, and urban planning firm, founded in 1955.
Kivett & Myers was a Kansas City, Missouri architecture firm that pioneered the design of modern professional sports stadiums.
Harrison Square is a mixed-use downtown revitalization project in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The project includes a ballpark that is primarily used for baseball, home field to the Fort Wayne TinCaps minor league baseball team. Also included are new retail, office, and apartments, a Courtyard by Marriott to serve Grand Wayne Convention Center and Embassy Theatre patrons, and an adjoining park with amphitheater and fountain.
360 Architecture was an American architectural practice acquired by HOK in 2015. The firm provided services for a range of project types including corporate headquarters and commercial office buildings, sports arenas, stadiums and ballparks, municipal facilities, single- and multi-family residential, and mixed-use entertainment districts. The firm was headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, with offices in Columbus Ohio; and San Francisco, California. As of 2014, the firm had a staff of 200 professionals.
Rays Ballpark was the name used in project documents for a ballpark in the current location of Al Lang Stadium on the Tampa Bay waterfront in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida, proposed by the Tampa Bay Rays as a replacement for Tropicana Field.
LoanDepot Park is a retractable roof stadium located in Miami, Florida. It is the ballpark of Major League Baseball's Miami Marlins. It is located on 17 acres (6.9 ha) on the site of the former Miami Orange Bowl in Little Havana about 2 miles (3 km) west of Downtown Miami. Construction was completed in March 2012 for the 2012 season.
Janet Marie Smith is a Major League Baseball (MLB) executive, architect, and urban planner. Smith has built and managed renovations of several major and minor league baseball parks in the United States including Baltimore, Atlanta, Boston, and Los Angeles. She became one of the first women to hold an executive position with any Major League Baseball club when she was promoted to Vice President of Planning and Development with the Baltimore Orioles in 1989. Smith is best known for her work developing Oriole Park at Camden Yards, which set a new standard for ballparks "incorporating historic, old-fashioned ballpark architecture with state-of-the-art modern conveniences." Through her work, Smith has demonstrated how to seamlessly blend the best elements of the past with those of the future.
Ron Labinski was an American architect, notable for influential designs of stadiums for professional baseball and football. Focusing for much of his career on sports venues, Labinski was instrumental in establishing sports and assembly venue design as architectural specialties. Labinski's work led to the establishment of several such specialized firms in Kansas City, composed of many of Labinski's former colleagues, making Kansas City the center of sports-related design. Labinski has been described as the world's first sports venue architect.