Three HOK-designed sports venues recognized as next-generation stadiums

Three HOK-designed sports venues recognized as next-generation stadiums

Nov 7, 2015  | Architecture 

Three HOK-designed sports venues recognized as next-generation stadiums
(Photo by: HOK)

Curbed recognized Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Edmonton’s Rogers Place and the Detroit Events Center as stadiums and arenas that have “kick-started a new era in design” for sports venues.

An abstract take on the shape of a falcon’s wing that looks more like a camera aperture, the new HOK-designed Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta may be one of the first American football stadiums to measure up to the architectural daring of Europe’s modern football arenas. In addition to the otherworldly oculus that can make relatively minute adjustments to control lighting, the stadium will also offer eye candy in the form of a five-story ribbon of high-definition video screens that encircle the seating area.

The curvaceous arena,” designed in the shape of a massive stylized oil drop, “is aiming to be the first LEED Silver-certified ice hockey stadium in Canada when it opens next fall. The anchor of a billion-dollar, mixed-use downtown development, the building will also boast some high-tech features courtesy of the naming sponsor, a Canadian telecom giant. The flexible, roughly 20,000-seat arena will feature the largest high-definition arena scoreboard in the NHL above center ice and be fully wired for hi-speed WiFi.

Set to open in 2017, the Detroit Events Center by HOK aims to be one of the more integrated stadiums ever built, as far as joining the arena and its concourse with the surrounding neighborhood. A glass roof covering the 20,000-seat stadium will also serve as a canopy between adjacent buildings, covering an ‘indoor street’ of retail and restaurants that will remain open independent of the event calendar.

Via HOK
Image,video ©: HOK