Hayward Field is a Fast Company 2022 Innovation by Design Award Finalist
SRG is thrilled to announce that Hayward Field was honored in Fast Company’s Innovation by Design Awards in the Sports and Recreation category for 2022.
The Innovation by Design Awards honor the designers and businesses solving the most crucial problems of today and anticipating the pressing issues of tomorrow. The competition is one of the most sought-after design awards in the industry. The judges include renowned designers from a variety of disciplines, business leaders from some of the most innovative companies in the world, and Fast Company’s own writers and editors. Entries are judged on the key ingredients of innovation: functionality, originality, beauty, sustainability, user insight, cultural impact, and business impact.
A Well‑designed Track and Field Experience
To meet the ambitious design brief of creating “the finest track and field facility in the world,” SRG reimagined the University of Oregon’s historic track and field stadium Hayward Field—where the great Bill Bowerman coached monumental athletes like Steve Prefontaine—into a premier 12,500-seat stadium. Designed and delivered in partnership with Hoffman Construction, Hayward Field connects athletes with fans and world class facilities where they train, develop, and perform to their highest potential.
Inspired by the movements of the sport, the design of the asymmetrical bowl places the greatest number of seats and amenities near the finish line of the track, creating a stadium geometry truly unique to the sport. The resulting form of the stadium itself appears to be in motion and is a physical representation of the most important aspect of the University of Oregon brand: innovation. Having just played host to the first ever US-held World Athletics Championships, Hayward stood front and center on the international stage, where thousands of fans witnessed firsthand how intimate and exciting a well-designed track and field experience can be.
“We’re honored to be recognized among the world’s most innovative companies. Building on our clients’ aspirations and in collaboration with our many partners who made this possible, we have together designed a stadium that reflects the beauty, history, and culture of its place to create impactful spaces for the athletes, fans, and community at University of Oregon.”
Hayward Field design team, SRG Partnership
Bowerman Sports Science Center
Beyond the stadium, Hayward Field integrates a high-performance, interior athlete training and recovery environment. To serve the athletes year-round, the team began thinking of ways every space, surface and amenity could benefit the athletes’ development and performance—from the public concourses and ramps covered in track surfacing to the 40,000 sf practice facility under the stands.
Beneath Hayward Field lives the Bowerman Sports Science Center, a state-of-the-art research lab for the University of Oregon’s Department of Human Physiology, conducts groundbreaking research on the mechanics of the human body and how it reacts to stress. Available to student-athletes and the community alike, a series of laboratories collect multiple modes of data to better understand how to prevent injuries, create better prosthetics, and accelerate training and recovery.
Serving as an innovation hub, the collaboration between product design, athletic medicine, engineering, and human physiology come together in the design of the new Hayward Field. This dedicated focus on athlete health, endurance, and overall performance works to improve the athletes’ overall wellness—a benefit to Oregon track teams, the University, the community, and health and wellness research development long into the future.
“A common theme among this year’s Innovation by Design honorees, which range from healthcare interfaces to autonomous driving technology, is permanence. The products that leaped out to our editors and judges went against our quick-fix consumer culture, while also manifesting a more inclusive vision of design.”
Brendan Vaughan, Editor-in-Chief of Fast Company
Winners, finalists, and honorable mentions are featured online and in the October issue of Fast Company magazine, on newsstands September 27, 2022.
