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Santee (left), Clark and Privitera
Photo by: Reed Hoffman |
Earl Santee
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Radecic
Photo by: Populous |
Founder, senior principal
Scott Radecic
Founder, senior principal
Brad Clark
Senior principal
Sherri Privitera
Principal
Populous remains among the top brands in sports design, seven years after a group of sports architects left HOK to form their own practice. On its own, Populous has enough qualified candidates to fill up half the Power Players list, considering experienced pros such as Dennis Wellner, Bruce Miller, Chris Carver, David Bower, Kelly Kerns, Jon Knight and brothers Joe and Jeff Spear, among others. We picked four stalwarts, starting with Santee, whose portfolio of 20 MLB projects positions the “Big E” as the foremost authority in ballpark design. In Atlanta, Santee’s determination helped Populous wrestle the Braves’ SunTrust Park project away from HKS. Sources said Santee camped out on the team’s doorstep and refused to budge until they heard his pitch. Radecic, the former Penn State and Buffalo Bills linebacker, takes the lead for many football-related renovations, including a master plan for sports facilities at his alma mater, and Colorado State’s new 40,000-seat football stadium. In the NFL, Radecic is working on renovations to the Bills’ practice facility and the design of the Jacksonville Jaguars’ new “flex field,” a combination practice facility and hospitality space. Clark, meanwhile, stands out as a big league arena specialist. He’s the firm’s lead architect for the Milwaukee Bucks’ project and was part of the Populous crew designing T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Privitera continues to break new ground as one of the few women overseeing the design of major college venues. She was the project manager of Baylor’s McLane Stadium and is working on a plan to upgrade the school’s basketball arena. She’s also overseeing the design of Purdue’s new football practice facility.
