If They Build It: 9 Other Sports Facilities by the Architects of Camden Yards

In 1983, Chris Carver, Ron Labinski, Joe Spear, and Dennis Wellner founded the first architecture firm dedicated exclusively to the design of sports facilities. HOK Sports Venue Event operated under the St. Louis-based HOK Group, an established leader in the field that was launched in 1955 by Washington University in St. Louis School of Architecture graduates George Hellmuth, Gyo Obata, and George Kassabaum.

After 25 years as an HOK subsidiary, HOK Sports Venue Event principals, including Spear, exchanged their HOK stock for ownership of HOK SVE and rebranded their independently owned, 500-person practice with the name Populous. While its title has changed, the firm formerly referred to as HOK Sport remains synonymous with excellence in sports architecture. It has designed nearly 1,000 projects and events since its inception and has played a role in the creation of some of the world's premier sports facilities. Here's a closer look at 10 of them, including the baseball stadium that launched many more.

Oriole Park at Camden Yards

In the firm's early years, Populous architects created Miami's Joe Robbie Stadium and the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis. They also renovated more than a dozen baseball stadiums, with most of those projects involving the addition of luxury boxes. The firm's first original major league baseball stadium, new Comiskey Park in Chicago, opened in 1991, but it was the opening of Oriole Park at Camden Yards in downtown Baltimore one year later that established a trend in ballpark design. The stadium, with its asymmetrical playing field, steel trusses, brick facade, and iconic B&O Warehouse, was a throwback and a gem. "Like the Green Monster at Fenway or the ivy-colored walls at Wrigley, the wall of the warehouse will become instantly recognizable as part of the Baltimore stadium," said Spear, the principal design architect of the ballpark. Camden Yards became the model upon which future ballparks were designed and measured. The firm has since played a role in the development of AT&T Park, Busch Stadium, Citi Field, Great American Ballpark, Nationals Park, PETCO Park, PNC Park, and Yankee Stadium.

Dubai Autodrome

Wembley Stadium

Taipei Arena

Oval Lingotto

The speed skating venue was the last major construction project of the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics. Populous collaborated with Studio Zoppini on the design, which received a 2007 Gold Award from the International Association for Sports and Leisure Facilities (IAKS) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC). While the building was designed to facilitate fast times, no records were set in Turin. That was in part due to the quality of the ice, which was installed under a tight deadline and can take years to perfect. Since the Olympics, the 6,600-seat venue has hosted the 2006 World Fencing Championships and the 2009 European Indoor Championships in Athletics, as well as numerous fairs and exhibitions.

Nanjing Sports Park

Ascot Racecourse

Wimbledon Centre Court

University of Phoenix Stadium

2012 Summer Olympics