Ben Vickery (BA 1981)
Senior Principal, Populous Ltd.
Photo by: Adam J.W.C, available from wikimedia under Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic licence
After studying architecture at the Universities of Bristol and Sheffield, Ben Vickery spent his early career as an architect in Singapore and London. He joined the specialist sport architects Populous Ltd (previously known as HOK Sport) in 1993, and later became a Senior Principal of the company. He has worked on various sports building projects, including Cheltenham Racecourse.
Between 1996 and 1998, Ben was responsible for delivering ANZ Stadium, formerly known as Stadium Australia, the main venue for the Sydney Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2000. The largest Olympic stadium then built, it held over 110,000 people during the Games. The stadium won the 2003 IOC/IAKS Award, which is awarded to exemplary sports facilities, for its innovative design.
In 1998, Ben took charge of the redevelopment of Wembley Stadium as project director alongside Foster + Partners. He led the project right from the initial briefing to its completion in 2007. Wembley has the largest covered seating capacity in the world, accommodating up to 90,000 people under its sliding roof, and can be adapted for football, rugby and athletics as well as music concerts.
While working at Wembley, Ben also took the time to contribute to a book, the fourth edition of Stadia: A Design and Development Guide, with Geraint John and Rod Sheard.
Ben is now leading the team designing the new Aviva Stadium (formerly known as Lansdowne Road) in Dublin, a 50,000-seat venue for international rugby and football matches and concerts, and is part of the team designing the venues for the 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic Games.
I enjoy architecture in general and I find sports buildings particularly interesting. In part this is because they are a complicated three-dimensional challenge and in part they are managed by people who are enthusiastic about sport, clubs and stadiums.
Ben Vickery (BA 1981)