The private lofts are far from the mundane suites of most stadiums.

The Arizona Cardinals Stadium designed by architect Peter Eisenman and HOK Sport was hailed by BusinessWeek magazine as one of the ten most impressive sporting structures in the world. Within this context, the creation of the interior design, environmental graphics and identity program was an amazing opportunity to redefine the NFL experience for fans and embed the stadium with many celebratory moments. Encompassing the official team retail store, locker rooms, club lounges and the corporate lofts, as well as the owners’ private suite and team offices, the interiors program and the stadium’s identity and environmental work complement each other, creating a dynamic new home for a team that is the oldest continuously run professional football franchise in the nation.

The club lounge in the new Arizona Cardinals Stadium.

The home team locker room.

Not only is the stadium unique in the league, but the team pushed us to question and reinvent every aspect of the design. For example, the lofts (suites is too mundane a description for these spaces) are a reaction to the typical wood and upholstery luxury box. Materials for the loft interiors were selected to reflect the honesty and lack of “painted surfaces” that characterizes the stadium as a whole. In the lofts, the stadium finishes—concrete, cement block, steel and aluminum—are supplemented with cork flooring, cast glass, enameled steel and Corian. The spaces were created to allow complete openness to the stadium bowl, while maintaining an elevated sense of privacy, luxury and “hipness.” Rather than model the suites on corporate offices, the interiors are more like the coolest restaurant in town.

The lofts feature cork flooring, enameled steel and Corian countertops.

Enormously popular among Cardinals fans is the stadium’s team store that features a simulated playing field rendered in carpet and mirrored by the linear lighting fixtures above. Clothing racks topped by oversized jersey numbers are a bit like having the players scrambling on the field itself. For the store, the field was used as a metaphor, with numbered displays played out on a carpeted gridiron. These spaces stand alone in the league’s collection of stadiums, but likely represent a preview of designs to come.

The team store was designed as a metaphorical football field.

Oversized jersey numbers make for easy merchandise location.

The playful attitude of the team store was also extended to the owner’s private suite and the club lounges. Custom fabric was designed for the lounge furniture: an abstract variation on the “play diagram” language familiar to passionate fans. The intention of elevating the level of the club lounge language was to encourage fans to think of themselves as more than the typical football fan, the idea was for them to think of themselves as insiders. And, it is worth mentioning, that for a club with a less than stellar record, the lofts sold out very quickly—an event the owner attributes in large part to the lofts’ design.

Fabric designed for the club lounges.