Sports Facilities: Design and Planning of Modern Stadia

The development of sports facilities has a rich and interesting history from the Greek Olympics to the current multipurpose giants for the NFL. Today these complex buildings form the infrastructure for the multi-billion-dollar sports industry worldwide, the design, planning, and development of which is the subject of the talk.

This lecture will discuss the design and planning of stadia, a complex task involving teams of architects and engineers, how this process has evolved over history, and the role technology and science play in the creation of these facilities from the structural complexities of a lightweight ETFE roof to the UV light needed to grow natural turf for the Premier League.

The lecture traces steps taken to create a responsibly sustainable legacy both from an environmental and financial point of view especially after the economic crises in Greece and Brazil after the Olympics. The talk discusses the latest in design and technology which will enable developing nations to host events without drowning them in debt while defining the sports facilities of the future.

About the Speaker

Partho Dutta is the Design Director for HKS Sports and Entertainment Group in New York. His focus is on sports, assembly, and hospitality projects in India and South Asia, as well as the Northeast region of the U.S. Dutta, started his career in sports infrastructure design at HOK SVE (now Populous) focusing on master planning for sports-related development and then moved on to the architectural design of sports facilities. In his 24 years as an architect, he has worked on notable sports facilities such as the new Yankee Stadium, the Dubai Autodrome, the Arenas das Dunas stadium for the 2014 Brazil World Cup, and the new Perth Stadium. His design interests focus on the sustainable design and development of sports facilities, their ability to adapt to various events and their post-event legacy. He holds an undergraduate degree from the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, and a graduate degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Space is limited; please RSVP by Wednesday, October 25th.