F EATURE — PEOPLE PROFILE
Wimbledon's Centre Court
redevelopment.
IMAGE: AELTC
POWERTO
THEPEOPLE
Q: What was your biggest
challenge on the Wembley
Stadium job?
A: Replacing the aura of the Twin Towers
— it was a huge and complex project, but Ken
Bates was a great client and handled all the difficult
politics, the Twin Towers was a challenge though. We always been, it is our name, our brand, it is who we
didn’t get it right at first, we did a scheme with tall are much more so than when we were called HOK
masts and launched that scheme to the public but Ken Sport. We are all about people, large numbers of peo-
Shuttleworth of Fosters and I both felt we could find a ple — managing them, building their expectations, and
better solution, and that came one afternoon when providing the most spectacular venues for those expec-
Ken was in our studio in Putney, and in a few hours tations to be fulfilled.
with the help of the engineer and quantity surveyor
the arch evolved. As soon as we started to sketch that Q: How are things going to change from the HOK
huge arch we realised we had found a solution — the Sport days?
Twin Towers were never a problem after that. A: Not at all initially, but perhaps in time we will grow
naturally into related areas.
Q: What were the biggest challenges on the Wim-
bledon job? Q: Tell me a little about your ambitions for Popu-
A: Grass, it’s a very sensitive organism it sweats and lous?
misbehaves if the temperature gets too hot or the A: I want it to be the best place anyone could possible
humidity gets too high, so it took us about a year and work, a real pleasure to get up in the morning and go
a half to research all of the parameters that the new to enjoy the day. In the meantime we will be producing
roof had to satisfy to be acceptable to the grass — the some of the most spectacular and stunningly beautiful
grass was our indirect client. We got lucky with tech- venues ever seen.
nology because just when we came up with the fold-
ing fabric solution, like a simple umbrella, someone Q: How is this company going to change the face
started making a fabric that could be folded — if it had of sports architecture?
all happened a few years earlier it would have been a A: I think we already have, and I can see that continu-
much bigger challenge for lack of the right material. ing for many years — we are the leaders in our field
The All England Lawn Tennis Club is probably one of and as we continue to build on our experience, ideas
the best clients any architect could work with, and keep flowing and we have all been revitalised by our
their vision and enthusiasm for the project kept us new independence — so I see the future as more excit-
moving forward through all the long and tedious ing than ever.
research and testing that was done to prove the idea
would work. Q: How do you see our industry changing in the
next decade?
Q: Why the change of name? A: Buildings will get bigger, more complex, more
A: The management buyout was marked by the name expensive and they will become more diverse in func-
change to Populous. Everything that was HOK Sport is tion — perhaps in some cases combining functions,
now Populous; there have been many highlights but and in others sharing functions to get more efficiencies
the best is yet to come. out of a given back of house. What used to be single
set piece venues will become little cities, building on
Q: What is the story behind Populous? the critical mass of activity and focusing on the specta-
A: Populous is who we are, perhaps who we have tor/customer experience.
WINTER 2009/10 P ANS TADIA 120
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