Archinect - News

Populous advances new downtown ballpark district proposal in Kansas City

2024-02-22T12:51:00-05:00

The Kansas City Royals are advancing a scheme for a new downtown stadium district designed by Populous in a neighborhood called the Crossroads.

Slotted into a 17.5-acre site at the confluence of Grand Boulevard, Locust Street, Truman Road, and 17th Street, the development would offer a connector to the nearby South Loop Link project from OJB Landscape Architecture and BNIM. The proposal calls for an experience-laden "Arts District" to be enacted alongside the new ballpark, with a new hotel, shops, a residential component, and shopping also included.

Rendering courtesy of Populous

The site currently includes some undeveloped plots and small businesses adjacent to the Power & Light District. The franchise had previously floated plans for a new stadium (sans entertainment district) in either the East Village or North Kansas City. Cost estimates for the project are between $1–2 billion.

Rendering courtesy of Populous

Populous CEO Earl Santee told reporters: "This is my 23rd major league ...

Manica and Moody Nolan team up for a renovation of Cleveland Guardians' Progressive Field

2022-03-16T14:30:00-04:00

Several Midwest practices are joining forces for a timely renovation project at Cleveland’s Progressive Field.

Kansas City-based Manica Architecture is now teaming up with Ohio’s own Moody Nolan for the multi-year project with additional help from Cleveland-based studios Van Auken Akins and Robert P. Madison International, who will cover the interior renovations and construction support respectively.

The renovation will include a reworking of the upper deck concourse and seating area behind home plate, the left-field Terrace Club, and the team’s clubhouse and front office areas. The erstwhile Jacobs Field was considered a forebearer for a new breed of well-integrated “destination” baseball stadiums when it opened in 1994.

Interior view of Progressive Field in 2019 while still branded under its former offensive moniker. Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons user Erik Drost. (CC BY 2.0)

“We feel very fortunate to live in a community that is unified in maintaining momentum in Northeast Ohi...

If you build it: MLB's corny new pop-up stadium gets center stage tonight in Iowa

2021-08-12T16:20:00-04:00

The game will mark the first Major League Baseball game ever held in the State of Iowa. MLB built a temporary ballpark adjacent to the movie site, with a potential capacity of up to 8,000 fans, and here are the latest photos, courtesy MLB.

Major League Baseball coordinated with commercial landscaping firm BrightView and a “creative experience company” called BaAM Productions to reshape the 159-acre former movie set in Dyersville, Iowa. The site is known to be a popular tourist destination drawing up to 100,000 visitors in a given year.

BrightView’s Murray Cook told the Des Moines Register he felt the result has a similar feel to old Comiskey Park, the legendary southside stadium that the White Sox team at the center of the “Black Sox” controversy covered by the film. "Obviously this one's in a cornfield," he added. Cook had consulted with MLB on previous pop-up venues at Fort Bragg and Williamsport, Pennsylvania, the home of the Little League World Series.

The new Field of Dreams complex was completed in time for the announced Yankees-White Sox 2020 game date, which was pushed back a year because of COVID-19. Local NBC affiliate KWWL has a pregame walkthrough of the field here.

Climate change calls for a new stadium in Texas baseball

2019-10-04T11:01:00-04:00

A few years ago, the owners of the Rangers concluded that the sweat-inducing weather was depressing attendance, and decided to build $1.2 billion Globe Life Field, with a retractable roof and air conditioning, right next to their not-very-old and still perfectly good stadium. The residents of Arlington are chipping in $500 million of that cost.

As climate change continues to bestow its work upon the planet, Texas Rangers Baseball are one of the many feeling its effects. Globe Life Field, the new HKS designed baseball park under construction in Arlington, Texas, and due for completion in March of next year, is the $1.2 billion response to the rising heat.

Globe Life Stadium. Courtesy of HKS

As innovations in stadium design continue to progress, the 'inconveniences' of the past will become the luxuries of the future, sweaty patrons now will have the comfort of climate controlled competition.

Dodger Stadium gets a $100-million makeover

2019-07-24T13:55:00-04:00

The Dodgers [...] will unveil plans for a $100-million renovation of Dodger Stadium that will provide a new center field plaza as well as elevators and bridges that will connect the outfield pavilions to the rest of the stadium. [...] The stadium will maintain its league-high capacity, which is listed at 56,000. And despite all the changes, club officials say the picturesque view of Chavez Ravine fans have become accustomed to will not be disrupted.

"The new Centerfield Plaza will create a stadium 'front door' with almost two acres of unique food offerings, entertainment and kids areas, retail locations, sponsor activations, more social and standing room areas and greater access for those with special needs," states the description of the renovations and stadium upgrades planned for 2020 on the team's website. "A new kids play area will be constructed just beyond the wall in straight-away centerfield, and fans will be able to enjoy the game from above of a newly-constructed batters eye wall."

Fascinated by the intersection of baseball and architecture? Get Paul Goldberger's latest book Ballpark at the Archinect Outpost online store.

In Conversation with Paul Goldberger; On the Impact of the Ballpark in the American City

2019-07-04T14:44:00-04:00

We have a very special July 4th episode for you today.

Today’s show offers an especially American conversation with the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Paul Goldberger. The discussion between myself and Goldberger was recorded live at Archinect Outpost last month for the launch of his latest book Ballpark.

Ballpark takes a deep dive into the history of the ballpark, and the impact it’s had on the evolution of the American city. The book looks at a selection of case studies to arrive at a simple yet compelling thesis: “In the ballpark,” Goldberger writes, “the two sides of the American character - the Jeffersonian impulse toward open space and rural expanse, and the Hamiltonian belief in the city and in industrial infrastructure - are joined, and cannot be torn apart.”

If you’re interested in a copy of the book, we have a few copies available at Archinect, both in our shop in downtown Los Angeles, and online at outpost.archinect.com.

Paul Goldberger

Paul Goldberger began his career a...

Oakland Athletics present BIG's circular redesign of proposed Howard Terminal Ballpark

2019-02-27T13:50:00-05:00

The Oakland Athletics have released updated renderings of the proposed ballpark at Howard Terminal. The team said it tweaked the design of the original boxy structure to provide better views of the bay and Oakland and after getting feedback from fans and public officials.

When plans for the Bjarke Ingels-designed new 34,000-seat baseball stadium at Howard Terminal (complete with gondola and publicly accessible rooftop park, among other features) were unveiled to much fanfare last November by the Oakland Athletics, the public reception was mixed.

This week, renderings of a revised design were released that seek to incorporate some of the feedback—most notably, a more circular stadium shape.

Image: Bjarke Ingels Group

Oakland A's President, Dave Kaval, describes the merits of the redesign in a statement released this week:

[...] Back in November, we were thrilled and humbled by the initial positive response to our preliminary concepts for the ballpark design. Fans and community members alike expressed excitement about the design. Since then, we've continued to meet with public officials, fans, and community members to gather more input and refine our designs.

Image: Bjarke Ingels Group

One key update to our design: a more circular shape. This geometry ...

Oakland A's release plans by BIG for new ballpark at Howard Terminal

2018-11-28T19:56:00-05:00

The Oakland Athletics have unveiled plans for their new highly-anticipated stadium. Leaving their longtime home at the current Coliseum, which will be transformed into a tech and housing hub, the A's will be moving to a mega-ballpark designed by Bjarke Ingels that will be located at the Howard Terminal waterfront.

Renderings for the new ballpark, described by A's president Dave Kaval as "nothing you have ever seen," show a futuristic facility with nods to the jewel box design popularized by Philadelphia's Shibe Park at the turn-of-the century. Shibe Park, known later as Connie Mack Staidum, also happens to be the team's old home from when they were the Philadelphia Athletics.

Image courtesy of Bjarke Ingels Group

The ambitious stadium will seat 34,000 and feature a publicly accessible rooftop park with views of the waterfront. Surrounding the ballpark, a series of wedge-shaped high-rises will further bring cafes, shops, co-working spaces and apartments to the area. Important to Kava...