project watch
New York Yankees Break Ground on Stadium
by Russell Boniface
Associate Editor

Summary: Iconic Yankee Stadium will live on in a new incarnation that combines modern with tradition—thanks to one of AIA’s own. “But don’t call it New Yankee Stadium,” says Earl Santee, AIA, principal-in-charge and senior principal at HOK Sport. “It’s Yankee Stadium.” Located in New York City’s Bronx borough, Yankee Stadium has a storied baseball history. An asymmetrical, open-air ballpark originally built in 1923 and reconstructed in the ’70s, “The Stadium” has hosted 37 World Series and many great players. But the time has come to continue that legacy in a new, more functional ballpark. Kansas-City based HOK Sport + Venue + Event designed the new $800 million Yankee Stadium, financed by the Yankees. It will replicate design characteristics of the 1923 structure while adding today’s amenities. Groundbreaking was held on August 16. The stadium will open in 2009.

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The legacy continues—just across the street
Yankee Stadium, both the original and existing structure, has had tremendous success. It is nicknamed “The House that Ruth Built” because it was christened with a Babe Ruth home run on opening day, 1923. The original three-tiered structure stood for 50 years and was demolished in 1973 to make way for the existing structure, opened in 1976 on the same parcel of land. Although modern for its day, it lacked the original design elements that had become symbols of Yankees tradition.

But now a new Yankee Stadium will more closely continue the tradition and symbolism that began in 1923 at the original “House.” And, even though the geography will shift slightly, Yankees history and pride will continue. The new, asymmetrical, open-air, 51,000-seat Yankee Stadium will be located on a South Bronx site adjacent to the existing stadium. Design elements of the original 1923 structure that will be replicated with modern interpretation are:

• The four-story brown limestone and granite façade and entry
• A roof overhang jutting out above the upper deck
• The traditional arch frieze hanging from the roof
• The right-field bullpen
• Traditional auxiliary scoreboards.

Elements of the current Yankee Stadium that will be retained are:

• The geometric dimensions, including the renowned “short porch” right-field fence—which is a modified version of the original stadium’s “porch”—where the distance from home plate to the right-field fence is unusually short
• Monument Park, an area in the existing stadium that contains Yankees' plaques and retired jersey numbers.

New features will include:

• A double façade element that combines the traditional Yankee limestone and granite façade with a secondary modern façade of glass and steel
• A Great Hall concourse in between the two facades illuminated by natural and artificial light
• Better sightlines in the seating bowl
• A different seating layout
• Modern bleachers with a café in center field
• Increased wayfinding, parking, and access
• Twenty-first century technology.

The new Yankees Stadium is also the impetus of a large-scale South Bronx redevelopment plan.

AIA architect melds modern with tradition
Earl Santee, principal-in-charge, is one of the most experienced ballpark architects in the world, having worked on more than 18 parks for Major League Baseball. “The Yankee Stadium project took 10–11 years to culminate in the groundbreaking that we had in August,” explains Santee. “We looked at various sites, and, at the end of the day, from a site selection standpoint, the best site for the Yankees was to stay in the Bronx and build the stadium across the street. From a planning perspective, it’s a tight, urban site. But to house the Yankees for the next 50 years in the Bronx was an important factor because it really talks to the legacy of the Yankees in New York City.”

Preserving the Yankee legacy was paramount to Santee. “The original building was built in 1923. In some ways, that legacy will continue—just across the street. The architecture is really about trying to continue the legacy of the Yankees in the Bronx through the original symbolic elements. For example, the limestone and granite facade from 1923 will be the basis for the skin of the new building but feature interpretation with modern materials.”

Santee describes how a modern façade of glass and steel will be beyond the limestone façade. Santee defines the meaning of the double façade: “The double façade says that we appreciate the great history of the Yankees in such a great way, but we also want the new stadium to be a modern building about today’s fan and tomorrow’s fan. What we will have, then, is an interesting interplay for the fans of the legacy of the Yankees’ tradition while looking at the Yankees of today and tomorrow.”