Coming of Age

Kirklees Stadium, Huddersfield

Architect: Populous

As soccer fever gripped the USA at the FIFA World Cup ‘94, closer to home Huddersfield Town FC’s elegant yet groundbreaking new Kirkless Stadium (by Populous) scooped the RIBA Building of the Year Award – the only stadium ever to do so – and quietly changed sports architecture forever. Its curved ‘banana’ trusses fully supported the weight of the roof without the need for supporting columns, offering fans uninterrupted views from every seat for the first time. Crucially, the design was also in full compliance with the new legislation of the Taylor Report, published in the wake of the 1989 Hillsborough disaster.

Coming of Age

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