EXCLUSIVE: Architect Dan Meis has been reflecting on Everton's first year at Hill Dickinson Stadium
Dan Meis spoke exclusively to Christopher Beesley on the ECHO's Royal Blue podcast about Everton's first year at Hill Dickinson Stadium
Dan Meis spoke exclusively to Christopher Beesley on the ECHO's Royal Blue podcast about Everton's first year at Hill Dickinson Stadium
View 3 Images
Architect Dan Meis has revealed that he knew he’d got the design of Hill Dickinson Stadium right when he overheard a conversation between a couple of Everton stewards.
Appearing on a special edition of the Royal Blue podcast to mark the publication of Christopher Beesley’s second book On the Banks of the Royal Blue Mersey: Inside Everton’s First Season at the Dock, Meis reflected on the historic move. The American admitted he was wary of the huge emotional attachments to Goodison Park that the fanbase possessed.
Meis told the ECHO: “I think it was one of the unique aspects of this project. From my first conversation with Robert Elstone, then on to Bill Kenwright and Farhad Moshiri, the recognition that none of this was going to be easy.
“Everyone realised that Goodison was tired and it would be too difficult to renovate. But no one in the process took that lightly that we were walking away from a beloved home that had an incredible reputation throughout football of being a difficult place to play for an away team.
“I was very sensitive to it. I felt like some of the new stadiums had really left a lot of their history behind.
“West Ham have really suffered from going into a stadium that’s not football specific. Even the Emirates Stadium with Arsenal, it felt like they were becoming newer NFL stadiums.
“They felt like big, shiny objects but not necessarily grabbing what was really magical about English football and the quirkiness and character of historic English grounds. So, that was hanging over us from the very beginning through to the end.
“We knew even though this was going to be a new building, we were going to have to capture the magic of Goodison, or we’d have failed.
READ MORE: New display at Hill Dickinson Stadium celebrates Everton trailblazers
“I was really lucky. The first regular season game that I attended, the club took me out on the field when the stands were full.
“I guess I’ve been in stadiums I’ve designed while the game was going on but never with the whole stadium focused on me because they brought me out and interviewed me on the field. The idea that hit me then and I will never forget this now and I’ll think about this for every building that I do going forward, is everything that goes into making a structure, it’s not really a stadium until it’s full of people – particularly in football.
“Tennis is perhaps the only other thing I could think of that the crowd has such an impact on the play on the pitch and the players react to the crowd. That idea of them being able to take the roof off (metaphorically in celebration) when a goal goes in, it’s so important.
“That was really rewarding because I felt that was the final piece. It wasn’t the last brick or the cleaning of the glass, it was the people in the building that made the building.”
Dan Meis speaks to ECHO Everton reporter Christopher Beesley on the Royal Blue podcast
Dan Meis speaks to ECHO Everton reporter Christopher Beesley on the Royal Blue podcast
View 3 Images
Meis now considers himself an Evertonian and acknowledges that could cause him problems with future projects. Believing the Blues fanbase to be unique in world sport, he said: “There’s nothing like it. The hard part is that I hope to do this for a while longer and I don’t know that I’ll ever have the experience again.
“I’ve been lucky to do some incredible buildings with pretty rabid fanbases. I did the Staples Center in Los Angeles and Lakers fans are pretty crazy and I worked with Roma for a long time and the Italian football fans are very passionate.
“But never before had I come across a fanbase that was so clearly in ownership of the club, every bit, good and bad. I became infected by that, very early on it became clear I wasn’t just designing a building in Liverpool, I was designing a home for people who I now felt part of, like my family - it’s unique, without a doubt.”
Part of the bond and understanding Meis was able to build up with Evertonians came through his regular interaction with them on Twitter (now X) and it was on one of his first matchdays at the completed stadium that he became privy to a conversation which vindicated his approach to creating their new home.
He said: “Social media was one of the reasons it was different. It was also a different time for the club.
“A lot of clubs would have shut that down. I remember early on, Bill Kenwright said to me: ‘You know, you need to be careful, you can be Jesus Christ one day and Satan the next.’
“But it was an interesting time. There was a lot of turmoil around false starts with trying to get a new building, where the club was and what happened with the ownership.
“Then there were the challenges we had with the Ukraine war shaking up the sponsorship. All those things were happening and there was a bit of a void in communicating to fans.
On the Banks of the Royal Blue Mersey: Inside Everton's First Season at the Dock is out now
On the Banks of the Royal Blue Mersey: Inside Everton's First Season at the Dock is out now
View 3 Images
“So, the fans were worried about the club at the same time I was just starting this process. There are a lot of reasons why it all came together and became a bit of a perfect storm in being able to talk to the fans.
“For me it was new because I was a little shy about it. I knew there were certain things that I didn’t want to light a fire about but also, it was frustrating that I could see fans not understanding things like why don’t we have one more seat than Anfield or is this really the right site?
“One of the best experiences I had, it was either the Roma friendly or the Brighton game, but I was walking into the bowl and one of the stewards held the door for me. I didn’t recognise her but as I walked by, I heard her say to the other steward: ‘He listened to us.’
“I thought: ‘What a powerful thing.’ I don’t know this person, but she obviously saw the communication and followed the process and that’s what you really hope for as an architect.”
You can click here to get your copy of On the Banks of the Royal Blue Mersey: Inside Everton’s First Season at the Dock featuring a foreword and exclusive interview with Dan Meis from his office in New York.