By Erin Reid P’01,’05

William Hanway ’79 discovered his passion for architecture at Hotchkiss. He now designs and delivers some of the world’s most iconic sports venues, including several facilities for the Olympic Games, as well as the Intuit Dome, home of the LA Clippers. He is executive vice president and global sports leader at AECOM, an infrastructure consulting firm that was recently recognized as the top company on Fortune magazine’s list of the world’s most admired companies in its industry. 

“My father, D. William Hanway ’42, went to the Allen-Stevenson School and then to Hotchkiss, so the preferred path was clear!” says Hanway. “My interest in architecture began at Hotchkiss, where I enjoyed the opportunity and flexibility to follow my interests. Special recognition goes to Brad Dellenbaugh, who was a history teacher with a personal interest in architecture. He created a one-on-one course that allowed me to explore design, eventually opening it up to others. We ended up with six students in the studio in the second year. Without the chance to explore design, I would not have come to such an early commitment to my future career.”

He matriculated at Washington University, where the architecture program was embedded in a typical liberal arts curriculum. He then attended Harvard, where he earned a master’s degree in architecture and developed a particular interest in civic and sports design.

His reach is worldwide. He currently leads the AECOM team for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games plan. Previously, he led the team that delivered the plans for the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Games and London 2012 Games. He also served as an advisor to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government on the Tokyo 2020 Games.

“I have always had an interest in sports, especially lacrosse (finally included in the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games), as well as architecture, but the final piece came through my work on large-scale urban regeneration projects. Combining sports, architecture, and urban planning created the ability to leverage the capital investment required to host major sports events and venues to produce positive economic benefit and physical improvement to the surrounding urban environments.”

He notes some of the biggest challenges in planning, designing, and launching his well-known venues. “Delivery requires playing the long game as many projects take over 10 years to plan and deliver, costing in excess of $10 billion. The key is establishing a clear vision and set of principles that can withstand global economic cycles, political turnover, competing interests, and unforeseeable issues such as the COVID pandemic. Olympic and Paralympic Games planning usually spans two elections as well as one global economic crisis. For London 2012, the mayor changed from a labour to a conservative government, but the strength of the vision allowed for continuity.”

As an example of global economic impacts, construction contracts for London were bid directly following the 2008-09 financial crash, and construction companies bid aggressively. In Rio, the economic and political crisis emerged in 2014-15, after the contracts had been awarded, and AECOM was tasked with finding significant savings to ensure the Games were delivered. He added that LA28 is privately funded (the first Games since 1984, also in Los Angeles), which creates its own challenges and priorities.

Hanway has been successful in leading the collaboration among politicians, civic leaders, and key stakeholders at the onset of projects. “This may sound like an oversimplification, but I focus the early stages on listening to stakeholders to avoid bringing preconceived solutions to these interactions. It is important to have one-on-one conversations with politicians to understand both their public positions and underlying drivers. We undertake a detailed environmental, social, and economic analysis to create a data baseline, allowing us to illustrate specific benefits of developing solutions in a transparent way.”

He says the location of the venues and infrastructure investment is intentional to transform impoverished metropolitan areas. “The scale of investment required to deliver major sports events, arenas, and stadiums can create significant economic and social benefits to challenged areas. In London, we helped transform the East End, an area that has historically faced economic challenges. The location of the Olympics was a contaminated 450-acre industrial site, and we were able to deliver a new 150-acre public park, 10,000 homes, two schools, and a regeneration of the River Lea.”

Single venues also have an economic impact. Hanway collaborated with Steve Ballmer, owner of the LA Clippers, on the design and development of the Intuit Dome, the Clippers' home arena. “Steve specifically chose Inglewood because of his commitment to improving communities. This included instructions to us to ensure work went to local businesses, workforce development, youth training, and apprenticeship programs.”

The Intuit Dome is his current favorite project. “I worked on this for 10 years with Steve to transform his goals into a physical manifestation of his vision. It opened in August 2024. It has won 34 design awards and is the world's most sustainable and technologically advanced sports arena, as well as arguably the best place to watch an NBA game. It represents a combination of my interest in sports architecture and Olympic and Paralympic Games, with LA28 hosting the basketball competition in this venue.”

He said that it is also important for all buildings to mitigate their impact on the climate. “At Intuit, we were able to deliver unparalleled measures, including enough solar panels and batteries to run a full basketball game, release pressure on the grid, reduce water by seven million gallons per year, provide 100 percent fresh air (in response to COVID), and achieve net zero carbon on day one.”

At the Olympic and Paralympic Games, his favorite moment is walking around at the Opening Ceremonies, knowing how much work was necessary to get to this point, and seeing the smiles of all the fans and spectators.

To future architects, Hanway advises: “Architecture is about embracing a large spectrum of academic and artistic endeavors, including fine art, product design, architectural history, technology design, and design philosophy and theory. Of my Harvard classmates, only about half pursued a traditional professional path—most regard the architectural education as a great foundation for developing an appreciation of the design process. Explore your interests and take advantage of the incredible facilities available at Hotchkiss. Speak with faculty to see if you can create a program to pursue your interests.”

^{An aerial view of the London 2012 Olympic Games.}