ATLANTA — The Atlanta Braves and the builders of the new SunTrust Park brought the project to life during the venture’s nascent stages through virtual reality.
Populous created SunTrust Park in virtual reality in order for both the company’s designers and the Braves brass to see the park, first-hand, in three dimensions before its actual construction, enabling both parties to alter the blueprint as they saw fit.
Not every Braves executive, including current senior vice president and Hall of Famer Hank Aaron, was particularly committed to the technology’s efficacy.
“We almost had Hank Aaron put the VR goggles on — he was in one of the meetings with (the VR goggles) — but he was like, ‘Yeah I don’t know about that,’” said Zach Allee, a senior associate at Populous, the firm hired to design SunTrust Park.