When compared to European basketball fans, NBA fans can look like they’re at a piano recital.
Arenas in countries like Greece, Turkey, and Israel are packed with folks who stand, chant, cheer, sing, jump, and create chaos during game action, supporting their teams and flaunting their civic pride.
Fans in Barcelona, Spain, are passionate too, so when HOK and Barcelona’s TAC Arquitectes designed the New Palau Blaugrana arena for FC Barcelona, the firm took into account home court advantage.
The 12,000-seat arena will have a seating bowl that emulates a theater environment, with an asymmetrical design that puts more fans on one side of the court in a tighter, steeper configuration. The design will create a loud and visually-intimidating “wall of people” that will psych-out Barca opponents and give spectators a more engaging gameday experience. Also planned are 24 VIP boxes and four sky bars and lounges.
Courtesy HOK. Click photo to enlarge.
The arena will serve as a hub in a larger development that will have a street festival environment. Fans can watch game footage on a large projection screen on the underside of the arena’s curved roof, and they can enjoy a year-round public outdoor concourse with patios, plazas, green spaces, and concession areas.
Construction will begin during the 2017-18 season and finish during the 2019-20 season. The construction is tied in with renovations to FC Barcelona’s Camp Nou soccer stadium, located just across the street.
Related Stories
| Jan 21, 2011
Sustainable history center exhibits Fort Ticonderoga’s storied past
Fort Ticonderoga, in Ticonderoga, N.Y., along Lake Champlain, dates to 1755 and was the site of battles in the French and Indian War and the American Revolution. The new $20.8 million, 15,000-sf Deborah Clarke Mars Education Center pays homage to the French magasin du Roi (the King’s warehouse) at the fort.
| Jan 20, 2011
Houston Dynamo soccer team plans new venue
Construction is scheduled to begin this month on a new 22,000-seat Major League Soccer stadium for the Houston Dynamo. The $60 million project is expected to be ready for the 2012 MLS season.
| Jan 20, 2011
Construction begins on second St. Louis community center
O’Fallon Park Recreation Complex in St. Louis, designed by local architecture/engineering firm KAI Design & Build, will feature an indoor aquatic park with interactive water play features, a lazy river, water slides, laps lanes, and an outdoor spray and multiuse pool.
| Nov 16, 2010
Brazil Olympics spurring green construction
Brazil's green building industry will expand in the coming years, spurred by construction of low-impact venues being built for the 2016 Olympics. The International Olympic Committee requires arenas built for the 2016 games in Rio de Janeiro meet international standards for low-carbon emissions and energy efficiency. This has boosted local interest in developing real estate with lower environmental impact than existing buildings. The timing couldn’t be better: the Brazilian government is just beginning its long-term infrastructure expansion program.
| Nov 3, 2010
Park’s green education center a lesson in sustainability
The new Cantigny Outdoor Education Center, located within the 500-acre Cantigny Park in Wheaton, Ill., earned LEED Silver. Designed by DLA Architects, the 3,100-sf multipurpose center will serve patrons of the park’s golf courses, museums, and display garden, one of the largest such gardens in the Midwest.
| Nov 3, 2010
Sailing center sets course for energy efficiency, sustainability
The Milwaukee (Wis.) Community Sailing Center’s new facility on Lake Michigan counts a geothermal heating and cooling system among its sustainable features. The facility was designed for the nonprofit instructional sailing organization with energy efficiency and low operating costs in mind.
| Nov 3, 2010
Recreation center targets student health, earns LEED Platinum
Not only is the student recreation center at the University of Arizona, Tucson, the hub of student life but its new 54,000-sf addition is also super-green, having recently attained LEED Platinum certification.
| Oct 13, 2010
New health center to focus on education and awareness
Construction is getting pumped up at the new Anschutz Health and Wellness Center at the University of Colorado, Denver. The four-story, 94,000-sf building will focus on healthy lifestyles and disease prevention.
| Oct 13, 2010
Community center under way in NYC seeks LEED Platinum
A curving, 550-foot-long glass arcade dubbed the “Wall of Light” is the standout architectural and sustainable feature of the Battery Park City Community Center, a 60,000-sf complex located in a two-tower residential Lower Manhattan complex. Hanrahan Meyers Architects designed the glass arcade to act as a passive energy system, bringing natural light into all interior spaces.
