The partnership behind the design and construction of Intuit Dome
AECOM is the lead designer of Intuit Dome, the future home of the LA Clippers. The iconic new sports and event venue has been designed for optimal and intimate engagement with the community and fans and will raise the bar for every major sports franchise in the world concerning sustainability through design and fan experience.
In the Intuit Dome blog series, we are taking a deep dive into each element of Intuit Dome with the leaders who made this project a reality. Throughout these pieces, we discuss features like community engagement, sustainability and visionary design/innovation to learn more about what makes Intuit Dome a game-changer in sports and entertainment.
LA Clippers owner Steve Ballmer originally thought that having an existing building (Staples Center at the time) would be beneficial when he bought the team. Within the first six months, he realized that the situation was unworkable as the third tenant in the building, so he sought out AECOM as lead designer when he was envisioning the creation of his team’s new home. After initial site selection and concept design, Ballmer then brought AECOM Hunt on board to review real-time construction cost estimates. A separate procurement led to the hire of an AECOM Hunt and Turner Construction joint venture as construction manager at-risk. From there, a unique partnership formed that proved to be as iconic as the venue itself.
The magnitude of this project drove the design and delivery team because of Steve Ballmer’s leadership and commitment. On many projects, the design team and contractors are put in opposing camps to identify responsibility for risk or challenges. With Intuit Dome, everyone set aside historic practices to put the success of the project first. The typical process of change orders and requests for information was not discussed in contractual terms but instead focused on solutions. Combining design and construction management expertise to complete this project elevates it to another level.
AECOM has served concurrently in both roles in the past, most recently at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, but typically these roles have been contracted separately with the assumption that we would act in traditional designer/contractor roles. However, this is the first time that we have engaged in a full collaboration along with the team at CAA ICON. Across all team members, regardless of company, everyone’s focus was on delivering the highest standard for our client.
Intuit Dome supersedes all others in the sports and entertainment realm regarding technological advancements. With the arena’s design and ambitious technology goals, the team coordinated with technology partners early in preconstruction. The most visible symbol of this commitment is the Halo scoreboard, which is almost an acre of 4k LED screens, 4-5 times the size of a typical NBA scoreboard. This is also the first time a venue is equipped with fan focused technology like frictionless point-of-sale — from concessions, to merchandise, to their very own seat. With the technology ingrained into the building, the focus is truly on creating an atmosphere that prioritizes the fan experience.
Additionally, on the construction side, the team utilized Microsoft HoloLens technology allowing crews to use real-time BIM information in augmented reality to verify work in place and resolve conflicts. We believe that we’re just scratching the surface of the future usage of technology on large-scale projects like Intuit Dome.
Throughout the design and construction process, a few challenges arose for our team to conquer. This project was unique in that we had to deliver the design and construction documents during COVID-19 while working across offices in LA, Chicago, Kansas City, London and Melbourne. The joint venture had to deal with the cost impact of the pandemic as well as limited commodities and reliance on overseas work. As a result, our team was very clear to the client about the cost impact and to outline the increases and risks.
Moreover, one main schedule issue on the project involved the fabrication and delivery of our diagrid steel. The stadium’s 2,791-ton diagrid structural steel frame (or gridshell) is a design inspired by a basketball net. It consists primarily of pipe radial, diagonal members and complex nodes. The arena enclosure, parking garage, plaza and garden were all impacted by the diagrad’s delivery schedule. Despite all schedule challenges, our team worked cohesively to meet our client’s needs by creating different sequences to pull certain components of the work forward.
Beyond the arena, the project’s connection to the surrounding neighborhood was critical, both socially and sustainably. The LA Clippers worked with the City of Inglewood on a far-reaching benefits package — funding for schools, housing, infrastructure and jobs have all been part of the commitment to develop an arena with positive community impact. Inglewood Mayor James Butts wanted this project to increase employment opportunities in his city, especially the training of young adults. Before the construction of Intuit Dome and SoFi Stadium just to the north, the unemployment rate in Inglewood was around 17 percent. Now, as job creation in the area has increased, the unemployment rate has declined to around 4 percent.
All in all, the AECOM partnership proved to be more efficient and cost-effective, allowed for greater design quality and produced a better outcome. Working together and successfully creating a world-renowned venue speaks volumes to our ability as a company to be able to deliver a show-stopping project like Intuit Dome.
Originally published Sep 11, 2024
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