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During his 15-year career with Populous, architect Gabe Braselton has designed $3 billion worth of venues, each with a unique character and place within the community.
In recent years, he’s led design efforts for Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena, Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum and Quebec’s Videotron Centre. The multipurpose arenas feature seating bowls that are more open, offering an improved fan experience while balancing the needs of the venues’ multiple tenants.
Braselton’s approach to design is far from the cookie-cutter concept that had been applied to multipurpose venues in the past.
For the Bucks’ $524 million Fiserv Forum that opened in 2018, Braselton said he designed a venue that would be representative of the city’s different communities.
“Milwaukee is a city that’s a lot about its neighborhoods and its passion for creating an extension of those neighborhoods and a place for community gathering,” he said. “So we worked a lot with the Bucks and the city on how we could create an arena that was really an anchor to a greater vision of a 30-acre mixed-use development there.”
At T-Mobile Arena, which opened in 2016, the design was more focused on how it fit within Vegas’ landscape.
“One of the main features with that is that we felt like we were able to come up with a design that really seemed like it belongs to Vegas and in a city that is known for a lot of recreations of other things and this kind of playground-type atmosphere,” Braselton said. “We managed to have something with a big, inviting front door that made a big kind of flashy enough move with the way that it meets the surrounding development.”
Principal and Senior Architect, Populous
Age: 39
Born: Tulsa, Oklahoma
Education: Oklahoma State University, Bachelor of Architecture
Family: Wife, Mara; children, Brady (8), Henry (6), Lillie (4)
I get fired up … : Opening a new venue, without a doubt. It’s one of the best feelings I’ve ever experienced. Watching the vision of a client and the hard work of a design team come to fruition with the team and/or community experiencing it for the first time is magical.
Profession I’d most like to attempt: I could never pull it off, but it would be awesome to be a musician.
Guilty pleasure: All things Kansas City BBQ.
Causes supported: Susan G. Komen Foundation; Catholic Charities.
Sports business leaders should be more mindful of … : The overall impact that we’re all fortunate enough to have on our communities at all levels and scales.
Most adventurous thing I’ve done: Have 3 kids in 4 years.
You would be surprised to know that I … : Somehow still have a pretty substantial fear of flying.
