Christopher Lee

Born on the east coast of Australia, Christopher has degrees in both Design and Architecture. He has worked around the world for major international sports clients and designed over 30 stadia on five continents. These projects include the main Stadium for the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000; Europe’s first moving roof stadium the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales; the Emirates Stadium for Arsenal Football Club; and Aviva Stadium the Irish National Soccer in Dublin, Ireland.

Christopher was the Project Director for Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, with responsibility for design direction and strategic decisions across the project. He worked closely with the Club to develop the brief and respond to their vision to redefine the stadium experience and deliver the finest stadium in the world.

As part of his project work, Christopher has been involved in the design of large-scale masterplans that seek to integrate the design requirements of stadia into the wider public realm. A good example of this would be the masterplan for the Emirates Stadium, which pulled together the requirements of Arsenal Football Club with the social infrastructure and housing requirements of the local council to create a cohesive urban development.

Christopher spent six years in the USA, leading the New York office of Populous. During this time he was responsible for leading the design of the AIA award winning 50,000 seat stadium for the Fútbol Club de Monterrey, in Monterrey, Mexico, the FIFA standard stadium for the American MLS team the Houston Dynamo in Houston, Texas and the 40,000 seat Estádio das Dunas for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. He has also worked on other public building types, including the Delhi Convention and Exhibition Centre in India, The Nanjing Convention and Exhibition Centre in China, The Liverpool Events Centre in the UK and Doha Education City Education Campus in Qatar.

Christopher sits on Populous’ Global Board of Directors, the EMEA Board, and on the practice’s Global Strategic Committee. He is a regular lecturer at the New York University Graduate School and guest critic at the Bartlett School of Architecture in London and the Columbia Graduate School of Architecture in New York. Christopher has been involved in drafting design and technical guides for FIFA, MLS and the UK’s Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds (The Green Guide), as well as being a regular contributor to Building Design Magazine in London. Christopher is a frequent speaker at conferences around the world on the architecture of sports and entertainment buildings and their role in our cities and popular culture.