Draft:Christopher Lee (Stadium Architect)

Christopher Lee (born 1970) is a British-Australia Sports Architect renowned for designing major stadia including Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Emirates stadium , Aviva Stadium , Wembley Stadium, Millennium Stadium , Arena das dunes , Houston Dynamo stadium ,and Estadio BBVA.

Career
Lee started his career in London, with Phillip Powell and Hidalgo Moya at the British Modernist practice Powell & Moya. He later joined Rod Sheard at his practice LOBB Sports Architecture, working on the Sydney Olympic Stadium (Stadium Australia). Following the merger of Lobb Sports Architecture with HOK and subsequent management buyout in January 2009 to form Populous, Lee relocated to London and New York to lead major stadium projects across the Americas. He is the Managing Director of Populous in EMEA, a global architecture and design practice specializing in the design of Sports and Entertainment buildings.

Early Life
Lee was born in Brisbane, Australia. He attended Marist Brothers School Ashgrove before studying Architecture at the University of Queensland.

Early Projects
Lee's early works include projects including the Sydney Olympic Stadium (Stadium Australia), Millennium Stadium in Cardiff Wales and Ipswich Town FC North Stand in the UK.

Major works
Lee's first major project was for Arsenal Football Club where he was the lead designer of the Emirates Stadium that was opened July 2006. In 2006, Lee's practice was appointed to design the replacement stadium for the Lansdowne Road Stadium. He lead the design for the new 51,000 capacity Aviva Stadium, the home of the Irish National Rugby Team and National Football Team.

Having relocated to New York, Lee was lead architect on several projects across the Americas including the Houston Dynamo stadium for MLS team The Houston Dynamo, Arena das dunes for the 2014 Brazil FIFA World Cup and the Estadio BBVA for C. F. Monterrey in Monterrey, Mexico.

In 2011, Populous was commissioned to design the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Lee lead the design of the project and the stadium is considered by many to be one of the greatest stadiums in the world.