Populous, the world’s leading sports stadium architecture practice, has unveiled design for its "state-of-the-art performance venue" for Toronto, Canada. 

Conceived as a multi-purpose performance venue, the 7,000-seat stadium is designed to be a global hub for major international esport events, alongside premium concerts and live events.

Set to be completed in 2025, the near $500 million project, described as "a theatre-style entertainment venue", will include a hotel complex, which will be the first new sports or entertainment venue built in Toronto since BMO Field in 2007.

Located in the heart of the historic CNE Grounds, the new venue promises to be "an unparalleled experience" for fans and performance artists alike. 

The project, developed for OverActive Media - a global esports and entertainment organization, is aimed to be a purpose-built venue and it is expected to offer premiere music artists and entertainment acts of the world a new place to call home in Toronto.

The new performance venue will be situated on 4 acres on the north side of Lakeshore Blvd., and across from the Ontario Place lands, "the venue is expected to become the epicentre for what is starting to emerge as Toronto’s future meeting place for sports, media and entertainment," stated Populous. 

Designed to present an iconic architectural presence along the Toronto waterfront, the venue reflects a modern expression of a new age theatre for sports and entertainment.

"The design of the theatre was neither conceived as a sports arena nor an opera house, rather, a new typology that straddles the two – a state-of-the-art performance venue. The theatre architecture creates a merger of the old and the new," said Jonathan Mallie, Senior Principal and lead designer for Populous. 

"The old channeling the rhythmic repetition of historic landmark theatres, and the new, integrating the progressive forms of avant-garde twenty-first-century design. In combination, a symbiotic balance delivers a one-of-a-kind theatre experience, unique to Toronto and the world," Mallie added.

Once complete, the facility expects to host 200+ events a year, driven primarily by premium music and entertainment bookings. The new venue will also serve to attract major city-wide conventions, corporate events and product launches, awards shows and naturally, a full slate of esports events increasing over time.

"Today is another important step in the evolution of OverActive Media. We are building a world leading, 21st century sports media and entertainment company and this best-in-class performance venue will be the chosen home for a new generation of fans that think differently about their entertainment choices and experiences," said Chris Overholt, OverActive’s President and CEO.

"It has always been our intention to develop a venue and hosting strategy and to build a facility that could not only serve as an iconic home for our two franchises, but ultimately emerge as a global hub for major international esport events." 

"We are already in active discussions to attract some of the biggest esport events in the world. This venue will redefine Toronto’s event hosting opportunities in every way," added Overholt.

Populous previously designed a new San Diego stadium for the Chargers as a multipurpose stadium. The firm proposed design for the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London marking a new generation of stadia design. 

Populous also proposed a pherical concert venue in London to be located near the Olympic park in east London. 

In 2017, Populous with National Geographic envisioned the stadium of the future with latest technological elements. 

All images courtesy of Populous and OverActive Media.

> via Populous