Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, United States

August 10, 2010 Category: Public Buildings, Sports

Designed by HKS, Inc, Cowboys Stadium is located in Arlington, United States. A 21st century stadium must work on three fronts: as a branding element for a team, a cultural icon for a city and a commercial venture for its owners. When the stadium is home to the Dallas Cowboys, expectations are heroic. The brand is a global power, a symbol for the city and nation that aspires to express ambition, sophistication, passion and swagger.

The simplicity of form and the design’s expression of movement and openness culminate in the Dallas Cowboys’ new home to create the intersection of shared experience, passion and contemporary culture now fully realised in a modern-day forum.

The power of an iconic building intensifies through a simple FORM that exudes purity, clarity and coherence. The form is defined by immense, sweeping arcs in each dimension that recall the parabolic path of a football in flight. More than a metaphor, the intent is to unify the structure with a simple geometric theme. The stadium, with a capacity of 100,000, is thereby imbued with a fluid grace that belies its size.

Movement, the essence of sports, is expressed literally as the building configures itself for the day’s weather, opening its sunroof and 120-foot-high end zone doors to light and air whenever possible. The architecture also implies movement through the interacting rhythms of its canted and convex side walls, signature entry brow and quarter-mile-long roof support arches.

The theme of ‘openness’ begins outside as landscaped pedestrian promenades sweep toward the stadium, and the concave and convex walls suggest a welcoming embrace. Inside is the largest column-free room in the world, defined by a visible structure. The objective is a space that is emotionally uplifting, but never overwhelming, its power restrained by its clarity.

Cowboys Stadium Design by HKS