This was published 1 year ago
Kicking and screaming: Suncorp Stadium designer reflects on 20 years
Two decades after Suncorp Stadium’s reopening, we take a tour with the man who designed the reimagined Cauldron. And he says it’s missing a vital puzzle piece.
Watching the Brisbane rugby league competition on uncomfortable concrete terracing in Lang Park’s famous outer, young David Johnston could not have imagined what the Cauldron would become.
Nor could he imagine that he would be largely responsible for its transformation into what is, 20 years to the day after its opening, still regarded as Australia’s benchmark for rectangular sporting arenas.
Gympie-raised Johnston was able to take his fandom, watching Brisbane rugby league grand finals at the old Lang Park, to his career with architecture firm Populous in a most significant way.
A packed Suncorp Stadium at last month’s Magic Round.Credit: Bradley Kanaris/Getty
The Suncorp Stadium that stands at Milton today is largely Johnston’s vision.
“The facades were broken down into glass corners, the timber screens are a nod to the timber-and-tin Queenslanders across the road. Each functional element has a different facade treatment, rather than one giant building,” he says.
“And the other deliberate thing is having the roof flat. It doesn’t have trusses above, or cable stays, so we kept all the busyness and excitement on the inside, which also is a metaphor about all the action happens on the inside on the field of play.”
It means the stadium blends into the neighbourhood better, he says, than Munich’s space-age Allianz Arena, for example, would have.
Munich’s Allianz Arena.Credit: Sandra Behne/Getty
“[Allianz Arena] is amazing and works well because it’s so far removed from a built-up area, but it just wouldn’t work having that sort of spaceship in this area,” he says.
“[Suncorp Stadium] is not an Allianz-style thing landing next to that poor person’s house over there.”
The excitement in Johnston’s voice shows this was more than just a job. It was a legacy, with a significant nod to the past.
“Look, I don’t know that you need much inspiration other than the history,” he says.
“I know it’s a cliche, but everyone talks about hallowed turf.”
Johnston gestures towards the pitch.
“To know that is the same spot that I watched the last game here before we demolished it, and then came and watched the first game here,” he says.
“It’s the same location. You still do the same procession down Caxton Street. The location and the history is what makes it special.
“The opportunity to be able to turn it into something world-class for the people of Queensland.”
The new Suncorp Stadium opened on June 1, 2003 – 20 years ago to the day – with a match between the Brisbane Broncos and Newcastle Knights.
The stadium rebuild came in at $280 million – a fraction of the $2.7 billion price tag attached to the Gabba’s coming Olympic transformation, just across town.
The Broncos were back at their spiritual home, which they had abandoned due to their inability to pour sponsor Power’s Bitter in the stadium taps, after a decade-long stint at the old QEII Stadium on the southside.
But it was not a happy homecoming. Inspired by future Immortal Andrew Johns, the Knights ruined the party with a resounding 32-22 win.
Not that the result really mattered. On that winter’s day, all anyone cared about was the new stadium.
“So many people walked in and they just stopped in their place, they were like, ‘wow’ as they came in. They had to move a lot of people on,” Johnston says.
“Whereas I already knew what was behind the gates and I knew how good it would be for everyone, so it wasn’t the surprise for me that it was for everyone else.
“But it was so nice and so reassuring when everyone came along and just went, ‘wow!’.”
Populous architect David Johnston back at Suncorp Stadium, the venue he helped design, last week.Credit: Cameron Atfield
It was made all the sweeter because, for Johnston, Suncorp Stadium was a true passion project.
“I grew up playing rugby league – in Gympie, there wasn’t much choice of sport back in the ’80s, so you either played rugby league or nothing,” he says.
“I was fortunate enough to get good-enough marks at school to make it to university, came down and studied here and worked on some big-scale buildings.
“So then when the opportunity to work on this came up, I jumped at the chance and joined Populous, because it’s so nice to be able to mix what you like doing as an architect with what you like doing on the weekend.”
Even with all the engineering and architectural advances this century, Johnston says he would not do much differently if he was given the brief today.
The only change in approach would be in the corporate hospitality areas.
“Twenty years ago, the brief was ‘we only sell XXXX and everyone will be happy with a meat pie’,” Johnston said.
“Now, when Taylor Swift’s on, people want champagne and they want sushi.
“It’s no different to the way people’s flying expectations have changed, not only is there first class and cattle class, there’s now economy X, business. Everyone wants to figure out how much money they’ve got and how they will fit in.”
Taylor Swift at Suncorp Stadium on December 5, 2015.Credit: Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images
Even then, Johnston says the stadium’s good bones means it’s not that hard to keep up with trends.
“Having the bones in the basics and the fundamentals done correctly means that over the years, we have been able to do some minor refurbs and get the hospitality to move with the times,” he says.
“If you get the basics right – everyone with a good seat, and a good view – the rest of it can be modified.”
Like in 2017, when a few hundred seats made way for new, larger video screens installed at a cost of $7 million.
“We upgraded the video boards because, back in 2000 to 2003, the ones we put in at the time were as big as they came,” Johnston says.
“Now it’s like big-screen TVs – they exponentially grow every year.”
Johnston and the design team had constraints. The new western stand had replaced the old Frank Burke Stand in 1994, so a rebuild of that was off-limits.
As it happens, the western stand was most affected during the 2011 floods – critical infrastructure in the new east, north and south stands remained undamaged.
Suncorp Stadium under construction in 2002, with the existing western stand at the rear.Credit: Heath Missen
“Everything we did in 2000 to 2003 is above the flood level, because we did the flood studies,” Johnston says.
“I don’t know the history behind the western stand, but it’s below the flood level and that’s why, unfortunately, the changerooms flood, the corporate entry floods.
“After the 2011 floods, because of our history on the project, we came in and helped them redo this in a flood-resilient way, to the point where when it unfortunately occurred again in 2022, it was back up and running in two weeks.”
Along with flood resilience, the movement of people in and out of the stadium was vital. To that end, Johnston and the design team moved entry points from the sides to the ends of the stadium.
“There used to be a panel beaters at this end, and the PCYC and a sport indoor sports facility at the other end, so everyone entered by Castlemaine Street and Hale Street and took the risk of running across a street at the end to get to the pub quicker,” he says.
“By separating them with raised plazas at the north and south, it gives public space back and makes it really easy for people to get in and out.”
But, in Johnston’s mind, the grand project remained unfinished.
“There’s still one piece of the puzzle,” he says, pointing to a diagram in the late-1990s stadium master plan.
It shows a connection to a pedestrian overpass from Roma Street Station, over Countess Street behind the fire station, connecting to the barracks atop Caxton Street.
The proposal has resurfaced since Brisbane was awarded the Olympic Games. In April, stadium chief Harvey Lister called for its inclusion in a new pedestrian-friendly Roma Street/Victoria Barracks precinct.
“This was our plan at the time,” Johnston says.
“The link went behind the fire station, so you wouldn’t have to cross the bottom end of Countess Street. That’s the only bit where they still put the water barriers out and police have to control people across that intersection.
“It was about getting people out of Roma Street here into Milton without mixing with vehicles.
“They just need to solve that piece of that puzzle one day.”
Johnston says he hoped the Olympics – the stadium will host soccer and rugby sevens during the Games – and the Cross River Rail project at Roma Street might finally see that vision realised.