Design & Development

‘National stadium’ vision set out for RFK site

KaTO Architecture, a design studio based in Boston, Virginia, has put forward eye-catching timber-based plans for a repurposed RFK Stadium that could welcome back the NFL’s Washington Commanders.

KaTO is not formally contracted with the District of Columbia or the Commanders, but has submitted its proposal to both parties. It comes with efforts focusing on the future of the RFK Stadium site.

Events DC this month announced the start of concerted demolition work at RFK Stadium after Joe Biden, in one of his final acts as US President, passed a bill to transfer the land on which the stadium sits to the District of Columbia, potentially paving the way for the Commanders to return to the venue.

The team formerly known as the Washington Redskins played at RFK Stadium from 1961 to 1996 before moving to what is now known as Northwest Stadium in Maryland. The RFK Stadium site has been earmarked for a potential new stadium or mixed-use development, with DC Mayor Muriel Bowser hoping to lure the Commanders back to the District.

RFK Stadium opened in 1961 as the DC Stadium and was renamed in honour of Senator Robert F. Kennedy in 1969. The stadium served as a sports and concert venue until 2019 before closing to the public.

KaTO’s vision centres on potentially remodelling RFK Stadium as a ‘national stadium’ for the United States. It said: “The RFK site represents the most visible and usable opportunity of our time to create a truly national stadium, to bring all Washington teams back home, and provide a thriving surrounding community. Only this site can provide such home-team enthusiasm, national pride, and local economic growth.

“By visually and functionally orienting the project toward the historic sites of the city, the stadium seeks to take its place among those beloved landmarks, greatly enlarge the iconically American district within the District, and become a destination unto itself.”

Founder and executive director, Kyle Murphy, told Fox 5: “We don’t have a dedicated national venue here and that would be the ideal place to do that – when you think about Wembley Stadium in England, Mexico has Estadio Azteca. We’ve been trying to pitch this as something that could be about national pride beyond just being of value to a specific team or certain city.”

KaTO’s proposal also includes an adjacent residential and mixed-use development, incorporating 2,000 housing units “of diverse affordability”. Design renderings illustrate a clear domed stadium composed mostly of environmentally friendly timber. The focus on wood as a construction material could set a new landmark globally.

The project to deliver a new 23,000-seat Australian Football League (AFL) stadium in Tasmania is currently set to become the world’s largest timber-roofed stadium. KaTO is a small firm with no serious background in stadium design. However, Murphy said his company has elected to open a conversation, adding he has experience working on stadium projects from earlier in his career.

“We decided to throw out a wild card and see where it goes,” Murphy told the Washington Business Journal. “Our hope is by putting this together, we can influence conversations about the site.

“When an RFP comes out, the language can be inherently limiting and then it limits the design. Our goal is to present possibilities on the site and demonstrate how an innovative stadium and a lot of housing and mixed-use space can be accommodated on the site.”

The Commanders have a deal to play at Northwest Stadium until September 2027 and the team is weighing up its options, with Maryland and Virginia vying with DC to become the long-term home of the franchise.