Populous-Designed Stadium Officially Inaugurated by World Leaders

Global architecture firm, Populous are proud to have designed Motera Stadium in India, and have it inaugurated by world leaders, Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi and President of the United States, Donald Trump, during the ‘Namaste Trump’ gala on Monday 24^th February.

Designed by Populous in collaboration with India’s top construction contractor, Larsen & Toubro, the world class stadium can host up to 110,000 passionate cricket fans, creating an iconic stadium for India.

Located in India’s western state of Gujarat in the city of Ahmedabad, the stadium was designed and constructed within three years at a cost of USD $100M. Officially named Sardar Patel Stadium and home to the Gujarat Cricket Association, the venue is the largest capacity cricket stadium in the world.

Lead Architect and senior principal, Andrew James, spoke about the vision for the design during the inauguration, with the scale of the project creating the greatest challenge.

“Cricket is the biggest sport in India and this stadium has been designed to bring together as many fans as possible, creating an incredible atmosphere for international cricket, IPL matches through to regional and community games.

“Every one of the 110,000 seats has uninterrupted sightlines of the field and pitch and with a deliberate round, open stadium providing 360-degree views, you feel you’re a part of what’s happening.

“Drawing on our expertise with cricket and major sports venues around the world, the bowl design consists of two large seating tiers, each with approximately 50,000 general admission seats, designed to fill the lower levels for smaller events and still bring that sense of occasion, the sight and the sound to make every experience a special one,” Andrew said.

Populous’ masterplan includes a community indoor cricket academy housed under the stadium, with a dormitory for up to 40 athletes, six indoor practice pitches and three outdoor practice fields.

The stadium design features four-team dressing rooms and facilities, state-of-the-art club facilities and a VIP pavilion, three practice grounds, an indoor cricket academy, an Olympic-size swimming pool, 76 corporate boxes and a media lounge with press rooms.

“The stadium will become an iconic sports venue for both aspiring and elite players. It will become one of the world’s great cricket stadiums, putting the Gujarat Cricket Association on the global sporting map,” Andrew said.

The official inauguration of Motera Stadium highlights another successful year for Populous’ Asia Pacific team after receiving the Australian Government’s 2019 Exporter of the Year Award; an endorsement of 20 years’ delivering innovative, high profile projects in Asia including Philippine Arena, Changwon NC Dinos ball park in South Korea and Kai Tak Sports Park in Hong Kong.

For more information, please contact [email protected].