Landscape Architecture

We use the landscape to expand the event outside the walls of a venue, such as at Baylor University, where we built a lagoon around McLane Stadium and created a new tradition of “sailgating,” with football fans taking to the water to celebrate before and after games. Outside of game days, the lagoon and surrounding parkland become a peaceful haven for the community.

Drawing on our expertise of designing places where large numbers of people gather, we have developed a specialized approach to landscape architecture, which we call Experiential Landscape. The art of designing these expanding and contracting public spaces is at the core of Populous’ approach to landscape. We’re committed to building environments that integrate our venues effectively within their urban context, striking a balance between the needs of venue operators, event organizers, and neighboring communities.  

Our team is able to address a wide array of project types and scales, tailoring our designs to suit regional variations in climate, geography and cultural behavior. Our masterplan for KL Sports City in Malaysia covers a whole city district, with a strategy that increased its green space from 5% to 30%. A green corridor of tropical plants is used to shade visitors from the hot sun and allow for pop-up outdoor events.

In Ahmedabad, Narendra Modi Stadium presented a different kind of challenge. With a capacity of 132,000, it’s the world’s largest stadium. The landscaping strategy is geared towards getting such a large number of fans safely and comfortably into the venue, while still providing ample opportunities for them to gather and build excitement.

Regardless of size, we always approach our projects with a focus on sustainability and community-centric solutions.