HOK to design Denver stadium

[ShowMeKC]

HOK will design Denver soccer stadium

Within days of asserting dominance in baseball stadium architecture with openings of two new major-league facilities, Kansas City-based HOK Sport + Venue + Event said Thursday it had won a design contract for a major-league soccer stadium in Denver.

 

The Colorado Rapids of Denver and Kroenke Sports Enterprises picked HOK as architect of a new Rapids Soccer Stadium project tentatively scheduled for completion in 2006.

Terms of the contract weren't disclosed.

No location has been chosen, but the site is expected to have room for public soccer fields as well as the stadium.

Although the United States has few soccer-only stadiums for professional soccer, HOK said it has designed 40 such projects worldwide. They include:

Alfred McAlpine Stadium, Arsenal FC Stadium at Ashburton Grove and Reebok Stadium, all in England.

Faro Stadium and Benefica Stadium in Portugal.

Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.

Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla.

Telstra Stadium in Australia.

New Wembley National Stadium in London.

HOK also has done significant projects in Denver, including the Pepsi Center and Coors Field, and it has designed seven of the past eight new Major League Baseball ballparks, including Petco Park, which opened April 8 in San Diego.

HOK said its designers worked with architect Antoine Predock of Albuquerque, N.M., to evoke San Diego's nearby natural canyons and ocean in the stadium's appearance.

"We used white steel to reflect San Diego's nautical atmosphere and create a striking silhouette against the sky," Ben Barnert, HOK's principal in charge, said in a written statement.

On April 3, Citizens Bank Park opened in Philadelphia with an iconic Liberty Bell mounted 100 feet above the outfield. The bell tolls to celebrate Phillies home runs, HOK said in a written statement.

The park was designed by Philadelphia-based Ewing Cole Cherry Brott and HOK.

"The ballpark is a hybrid, giving a nod to Philadelphia architecture while offering a contemporary, fresh twist on historic ballpark themes," HOK Principal in Charge Joseph Spear said.

[wolfdawg54]

Do you have any renderings of the stadium yet?