The Challenge

Los Angeles Rams Owner and Chairman E. Stanley Kroenke is the visionary and driving force responsible for the design, development and financing of SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park, a 298-acre sports and entertainment destination. Designed by HKS Architects, SoFi Stadium is the centerpiece of the live-work-play development, located at the site of the former Hollywood Park Racetrack and Los Angeles Forum.

Kroenke challenged HKS to design an iconic civic gesture and revolutionary stadium destination and experience worthy of Los Angeles, the entertainment capital of the world.

The design team was also challenged by Federal Aviation Association (FAA) height regulations due to the stadium’s proximity to LAX just three miles away.

The Design Solution

SoFi Stadium’s architecture is informed by extensive research into Southern California’s industry, architecture, lifestyle, climate, geography, and landscape, combining to create an authentic Southern California expression and experience. The sweeping coastline and the beauty and strength of the Pacific Ocean contribute to the clean and dramatic curves of the stadium’s unmistakable architecture that reflects the region’s indoor-outdoor lifestyle. The stadium’s translucent roof, seating bowl, concourses and landscape were sculpted and designed to create the feel of an outdoor venue while providing the flexibility of a traditional domed stadium.

The FAA’s height restrictions, one of the project’s initial design challenges, became one of the most prominent features within the overall project: the seating bowl sits 100-feet below the existing grade – about two to three times the depth of other similar multiuse venues. To create a memorable procession experience for patrons navigating their way down to their seats and concourses, HKS demurred from the typical series of elevators, escalators, stairs and ramps, and created an indoor/outdoor meandering series of paths that guide fans through visually rich landscaped environments replete with amenities along the way.

The open-air SoFi Stadium is the first indoor-outdoor stadium to be constructed and the NFL’s largest at 3.1 million square feet (288,500 square meters). Situated under one monumental roof canopy, three state-of-the-art venues – the 70,000-seat SoFi Stadium, the 2.5-acre covered outdoor American Airlines Plaza and a 6,000-seat performance venue – can simultaneously host different events.

The stadium’s single layer ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) roof provides a guarantee, rain or shine, for the multitude of events hosted by SoFi, all while maintaining connectivity to the outdoors and flooding the venue with natural light. The ETFE film features a 65% frit pattern that shelters guests from direct sun and reduces solar gain into the venue. The roof also features a series of operable panels distributed around the perimeter of the ETFE that can open and close, depending on the climatic conditions to promote airflow in the stadium and a comfortable environment for fans.

The Design Impact

When conceptualizing an unparalleled experience in a thriving metropolis like Los Angeles, HKS considered its impact on the region, well beyond sports and entertainment events. Local residents and visitors alike enrich L.A., one of the world’s most diverse cities, representing myriad and colorful heritages and cultures steeped in art, food, entertainment and social experiences. SoFi Stadium pays homage to Los Angeles in every sense.

With more than 12 different club spaces and 7 suite experiences, SoFi Stadium’s diverse spaces were designed to cater to a variety of user preferences. Guests can enjoy a cocktail with panoramic views of downtown or hang out in an immersive football experience right behind the players – it’s the closest any fan can get to the action in an NFL venue.

Just like SoFi’s architecture, you can’t turn a corner in the venue without discovering something new and exciting, yet in a familiar and quintessentially relaxed Southern California environment.