Dan Meis

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Dan Meis, born in 1961 in Colorado, is an American architect who designs large sports and entertainment venues. His notable projects include Staples Center in Los Angeles, Safeco Field in Seattle, Paycor Stadium in Cincinnati, Saitama Super Arena in Japan, Stadio della Roma in Rome, and Everton Stadium in Liverpool.

Meis began his career in Chicago with Helmut Jahn, helped start NBBJ’s sports practice, and founded MEIS Architects in 2007. The firm, with offices in New York and Los Angeles, also works with Maria Sharapova on tennis and wellness centers and with Live Nation on upgrades to outdoor theaters. His Stadio della Roma design uses a floating stone scrim to evoke the Colosseum and is currently under construction. He is also designing an MLS stadium for FC Cincinnati in the West End, expected to seat about 26,000.

Earlier in his career, he designed the Nynex Arena (Manchester Arena) in England and led the winning design for the Saitama Super Arena in Japan. He later helped build NBBJ’s sports practice. Other projects include the Dodge Theater in Phoenix, Miller Park in Milwaukee, Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, and Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati, the first NFL facility to win an AIA design award. Time magazine named him a 2001 Innovator in Sports, and he has twice won the Business Week/Architectural Record Award. He was named a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects in 2007. He studied environmental design at the University of Colorado Boulder and earned a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Since 2011, he has been an adjunct professor of stadium design at the University of Southern California.