Sacramento\u2019s Entertainment and Sports Center puts fans first while driving the regeneration of the city\u2019s downtown district. Changing the Game spoke to architect Rob Rothblatt, to find out how cutting-edge technology is making it all happen.<\/p>\n
Sports fans around the world know the joy and\u00a0pain of rooting for their team. In 2013, however,\u00a0supporters of the Sacramento Kings had\u00a0something more than the weekly fixture list to worry\u00a0about. Former owners the Maloof Brothers were\u00a0contemplating an acquisition bid from a Seattle-based\u00a0investor, which would have meant moving the franchise\u00a0to that city and renaming it.\u00a0In the end, the takeover was rejected. The Kings were still\u00a0sold, to a group led by Silicon Valley tech entrepreneur\u00a0Vivek Ranadiv\u00e9, but they stayed in Sacramento and\u00a0kept their name. One of the new owner\u2019s promises was\u00a0to build a new arena for the franchise, enabling them to\u00a0move out of their current home at the 1980s-built Sleep\u00a0Train Arena.\u00a0The Sacramento Entertainment and Sports Center (ESC)\u00a0is the result. Currently under construction and due to be\u00a0complete in time for the NBA 2016-17 season, it offers a\u00a0radical vision of what a major-league sports arena can be.<\/p>\n
Turning the game inside out<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cThe brief was for what the Sacramento team calls \u2018Arena 3.0\u2019\u2014 an\u00a0exemplary sports venue that embedded the Sacramento Kings in the city,\u201d\u00a0explains Rob Rothblatt a design principal at AECOM. Rothblatt and his team\u00a0used cutting-edge parametric design tools \u2014 advanced computer aided\u00a0design software \u2014 to help create the best sightlines and model the ESC\u2019s\u00a0distinctive form.\u00a0Instead of an old, \u2018closed box\u2019 in the suburbs, the ESC will combine a state of-the-art bowl with a unique \u2018inside-outside\u2019 design that opens up the\u00a0complex to the city surrounding it. A joint undertaking, its US$477 million\u00a0cost is shared by the King\u2019s owners and the city of Sacramento. AECOM is\u00a0lead architect, with Turner Construction as contractor.<\/p>\n “Very few arenas provide visitors\u00a0with this sense of drama,\u00a0excitement and engagement.”<\/strong><\/p>\n “Fans first”<\/strong><\/p>\n Creating a road to the best fan experience was central.\u00a0\u201cWe put 10,000 of the 17,000 seats in the continuous,\u00a0360-degree lower bowl, to bring more fans closer to the\u00a0action,\u201d says Rothblatt. \u201cSeeing the game just a few feet in\u00a0front of you \u2014 that\u2019s what will keep people coming back.\u201d\u00a0An innovative design places the main concourse on\u00a0top of the lower bowl, enabling it to dispense with the\u00a0traditional \u2018vomitoria\u2019 \u2014 the passages below or behind\u00a0tiers of seats. \u201cYou\u2019ll enter via the concourse, and then\u00a0descend to your seat,\u201d says Rothblatt. \u201cVery few arenas\u00a0provide visitors with this sense of drama, excitement and\u00a0engagement on entering. It is state-of-the-art.\u201d<\/p>\n There is more technology inside the arena, where clever\u00a0climate controls keep the environment comfortable.\u00a0A displacement air system pumps cool air from slots\u00a0under the seats. The slots are close to spectators,\u00a0meaning there\u2019s no chance for the cool air to heat up\u00a0before it reaches them \u2014 so the ventilation can be\u00a0calibrated to exactly the right temperature.\u00a0This not only helps keep the cost and the carbon footprint\u00a0of the ventilation down but it also means the temperature\u00a0on the basketball court can be stabilized and allowing the\u00a0ESC to open its impressive front doors.<\/p>\n Fans will also benefit from next-level technological\u00a0interactivity, such as the innovative iBeacon wireless\u00a0service, which pushes news and information to Technology fast track<\/strong><\/p>\n Architecturally, the ESC is advanced too. A curved\u00a0fa\u00e7ade, made of silver aluminium and glass panels\u00a0brings people into a new plaza at the front. The fa\u00e7ade\u00a0is perforated or embossed with tree and leaf patterns,\u00a0symbolising the city\u2019s aim of planting a million trees.\u00a0\u201cThe fa\u00e7ade design is a series of pushes and pulls. It hides\u00a0some of the service elements while allowing views in and\u00a0enables us to address the introversion of a typical sports\u00a0arena,\u201d says Rothblatt.\u00a0Key to the design is the five 60-foot-high hangar doors,\u00a0which open to the plaza and surrounding development.\u00a0Getting the hangar doors right was critical, which is\u00a0where those parametric tools were essential. \u201cWe could\u00a0try things out and check everything worked in that virtual\u00a0environment,\u201d says Rothblatt. \u201cWe could share those\u00a0designs with our clients and make adjustments easily,\u201d\u00a0he adds. \u201cIf we didn\u2019t have this, we\u2019d be making physical\u00a0models for months on end.\u201d<\/p>\n This flexibility came in handy early on, when there were\u00a0discussions about the building\u2019s orientation.\u00a0\u201cWe realised the early plans had it facing east \u2014 right into\u00a0the hot summer morning sun \u2014 which would have caused\u00a0problems for the hangar doors. It was quick and easy to\u00a0run sun studies with the parametrics, and make the case\u00a0for \u2018dialling the bowl\u2019 to the north,\u201d says Rothblatt.<\/p>\n Uniquely\u00a0Sacramento<\/strong><\/p>\n With the project moving forward so quickly, it\u2019s easy\u00a0to forget that plans for a new stadium downtown had\u00a0actually been talked about since the mid-1990s, but, until\u00a0now, nothing had left the drawing board. For Rothblatt,\u00a0it was a client vision that combined sports, leisure and\u00a0regeneration that helped get things off the ground.\u00a0\u201cThe ESC had to be uniquely Sacramento,\u201d explains\u00a0Rothblatt. \u201cBut it also had to undo the failed urban\u00a0renewal of the 1980s, which turned downtown into\u00a0a set of barren malls.\u201d\u00a0Those hangar doors are the key. By opening the ESC to\u00a0the city surrounding it, the aim is that this previously\u00a0uninspiring part of town will be revitalised. \u201cThe plan is\u00a0to have activity all year round,\u201d explains Rothblatt.\u00a0The joint team even found a state-of-the-art product\u00a0with a distinct, undetectable-to-humans aroma that,\u00a0when piped out above the doors, deters birds from\u00a0flying into the arena.<\/p>\n A range of new restaurants is planned for the\u00a0concourse and plaza areas, many of them \u2018farm to fork\u2019\u00a0establishments using herbs grown in the ESC\u2019s extensive\u00a0live wall that encircles the base of the arena at the\u00a0plaza. There are reminders of the rich California Delta\u00a0agriculture everywhere, including pistachio trees in the\u00a0plaza bosque and walnut trees on the terrace at the main\u00a0entry to the site.\u00a0Sustainability is the final piece of the ESC jigsaw. A vast\u00a0array of photovoltaics \u2014 generating enough energy to\u00a0power the arena on a cloudy day \u2014 is planned, as are\u00a0features to help manage storm water. And as well as\u00a0achieving LEED Gold, the ESC aims to be the first major\u00a0arena to meet California\u2019s strenuous new \u2018Title 24\u2019 energy\u00a0requirements. \u201cThat\u2019s no mean feat,\u201d says Rothblatt.<\/p>\n The plan for Sacramento Entertainment and Sports\u00a0Center is ambitious, but it also makes perfect sense.\u00a0After all, why shouldn\u2019t a sports arena\u2019s surroundings be\u00a0as vibrant and exciting as the events taking place inside?\u00a0Why shouldn\u2019t it be a place that functions all year round,\u00a0instead of being closed off outside of game days? At its\u00a0heart, this is what the ESC offers \u2014 a new future for\u00a0downtown Sacramento, wrapped up in an incredible fan\u00a0experience, to keep those fans coming back.<\/p>\n
\nvisitors while they\u2019re at the ESC. They will even be\u00a0able to connect with the team as they practise with a\u00a0translucent glass wall (which glows at night) separating
\nthe training courts from the main arena.<\/p>\n