The architects of Kansas City-based firm Populous are at work on their 20th Major League Baseball stadium. They view this one — the planned new Braves stadium — as a different challenge than all the others.
“It is unlike anything we have seen or done,” said Earl Santee, the Populous principal in charge of the project. “Man, that’s what we wake up for every day. … You live for the challenges.”
Santee discussed Populous’ vision for the Cobb County stadium in an interview this week with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the firm’s first public comments about the project since being chosen by the Braves as the ballpark’s lead architect two months ago.
Santee described a stadium that will be built in “a natural bowl” on the hilly, forested site, likely facing south toward Atlanta. He described a stadium that will have 41,500 seats “as close to the field as possible,” making for a “more intimate” experience than 50,000-seat Turner Field. He said the exterior appearance hasn’t been figured out yet, other than that it will be “transparent” in some way.
But what makes this a challenge unlike any of Populous’ previous projects, Santee said, is the Braves’ plan to build the stadium simultaneously with an adjacent mixed-use development of shops, restaurants, bars, residences, offices and hotels.
“Honestly, it hasn’t been done before,” Santee said. “It’s like designing a community at one time.
“It’s important that we understand the inside and outside experiences and the unified experiences. I think that is the great opportunity and the great challenge, and we can see it leading to a future of other projects happening the same way.”
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