Archinect - News

AECOM's $2 billion Intuit Dome opens in fast-changing Inglewood

2024-08-13T20:09:00-04:00

The landscape for professional sports in Los Angeles has for generations been defined by icons such as Dodger Stadium, Staples Center (now Crypto.com Arena), the Rose Bowl, and LA Coliseum.

This week, AECOM’s new Intuit Dome debuts in Inglewood, adding to that tradition. The $1.8 billion project, by many measures one of the most artistic sports venue designs in recent memory, includes 17,700 seats and comes replete with an 80,000-square-foot outdoor plaza area created by City Design Studio with landscaping from Walter Hood.

Image courtesy Los Angeles Clippers

The first permanent home for the LA Clippers was designed to entice fans with an unprecedented gameday experience as highlighted by its centerpiece 38,375-square-foot (nearly one acre) wraparound LED Halo Board — a new record-holder for indoor arenas worldwide. (It has over 233 million LEDs!)

Image courtesy Los Angeles Clippers

Viewed from the outside, the arena appears encased in an interwoven red diagrid steel frame with diam...

New construction video highlights AECOM's nearly complete Intuit Dome in Inglewood

2023-07-19T13:35:00-04:00

Following reports of its topping out in March, the AECOM-designed Intuit Dome, the future home of the Los Angeles Clippers, is taking shape ahead of its expected completion in 2024.

A new video depicts the status of the project as of June 2023, where its standout steel frame with diagrid geometry can be seen wrapping the structure. This building skin is formed from a series of diamond-shaped, interwoven metal panels with multiple uses. According to the architects, the frame was inspired by the form of a basketball net as a ball passes through it.

A vast array of solar panels can also be spotted on the structure’s roof. Intuit Dome is set to operate 100% carbon-free, powered fully by batteries and solar power. The design team, alongside the Clippers organization, worked towards initiatives that will earn the stadium a LEED Platinum certification.

The $1.2 billion, 18,000-seat arena will be the centerpiece of a larger mixed-use project, including an 85,000-square-foot training faci...

New Clippers NBA arena tops out in Inglewood

2023-03-13T14:00:00-04:00

According to the company’s website , the new facility is designed to mimic the look and feel of “the elegant form of a basketball net as a ball passes through it.” It will feature five basketball courts, more than any other NBA arena. According to the company’s website , the new facility is designed to mimic the look and feel of “the elegant form of a basketball net as a ball passes through it.” It will feature five basketball courts, more than any other NBA arena.

The AECOM-designed $1.2 billion construction broke ground in September of 2021 and is moving along schedule towards a 2024 completion. Its reported $260 million worth of community benefits are said to be the largest ever associated with an American sports arena project. In total, the arena will have a capacity for 18,000 future Clippers fans while their current abode undergoes a “nine-figure” overhaul courtesy of MEIS and Gensler.

Once construction is finished, the arena, which sits due south of SoFi Stadium, will occupy a 28-acre site that includes a Deer District-like public plaza, shopping areas, training facilities, and a 150-room hotel.

Previously on Archinect: Concrete frame at LA Clippers' new Intuit Dome arena tops out

Los Angeles hopes it will serve as a key cog in their upcoming Metro Crenshaw/LAX line extension. The NBA has more photos of the new construction here.

Concrete frame at LA Clippers' new Intuit Dome arena tops out

2022-08-05T15:28:00-04:00

The AECOM-Hunt Turner joint venture is celebrating the topping out of the Intuit Dome’s concrete frame, the future home of the Los Angeles Clippers.

According to Turner, more than 200,000 hours of work were performed by 350 workers to complete the frame. During construction, 65,000 cubic yards of concrete were placed, and 6,600 concrete mix truck deliveries were completed. The largest foundation pour was 2,572 cubic yards, and the largest deck pour was 980 cubic yards.

Previously on Archinect: The Los Angeles Clippers break ground on $1.8 billion Intuit Dome

“What our construction team has achieved in the last six months is incredible,” said Rames Sundaram, Project Executive at Turner. “Our first foundation was poured on January 12th, and our last deck pour is on July 27th. So, in just six short months, we have completed what normally takes nine months of work. Really amazing!”

According to Turner Vice President Michael Marchesano, the swift completion of the concrete frame has en...

The Frank Gehry-designed YOLA Center is a key cog in the transformation of LA's Inglewood suburb

2021-12-27T15:09:00-05:00

It is one of the most vivid examples of efforts by major arts organizations across the country to bring youth education programs out into communities, rather than concentrating them in city centers or urban arts districts. For Inglewood, the new YOLA Center is a notable addition to what has been a transformative wave of stadium and arena construction, which has spurred a wave of commercial and housing development.

The Beckmen YOLA Center opened in October on the site of a former Burger King restaurant as the latest iteration of a wave of high-profile projects tied to a larger plan being pursued by Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts Jr. which are reshaping the community of 109,000 in spite of advocates’ criticism that similar developments are fueling a wave of gentrification.

Previously on Archinect: 'LET IT RIP!': Photos of Frank Gehry’s new LA Phil Youth Orchestra Center opening ceremony. Photo: Joshua White/JWPictures.com © LA Phil

For his part, Butts Jr. says the satellite venue, which is as much the vision of Gehry as it is of LA Philharmonic director Gustavo Dudamel, provides a balance in an area known to outsiders for its sports stadiums and past economic woes.

“We’ve never been known for cultural enrichment,” he told The New York Times. “That is why this is so important to us. What’s happening now is a rounding out of society and culture: we will no longer be known for just sports and ente...

The Los Angeles Clippers break ground on $1.8 billion Intuit Dome

2021-09-20T15:41:00-04:00

The design meetings have been going on for years. Technology has evolved throughout the process. Painstaking decisions were made time and time again, right down to what an inch or two difference in leg room between rows would mean or where cupholders should be affixed to the seats. Finally, Steve Ballmer and the LA Clippers are ready to build their new home.

Four years after announcing plans to relocate from the Staples Center, the Los Angeles Clippers have broken ground on their long-awaited $1.8 billion, privately funded arena. It will be named Intuit Dome, as part of a 23-year naming rights agreement with Intuit, Inc. The 18,000-seat, AECOM-designed arena is scheduled to open in time for the 2024-2025 NBA season.

Through this partnership, Intuit and the Clippers plan to establish programs to reinvigorate the local economy, such as a commitment by Intuit to provide $1 million over the next three years to underserved school districts that are part of a program providing financial education to students. Intuit has also committed to providing free tax preparation services for low-income families in the area.

Previously on Archinect: Plans for LA Clippers arena in Inglewood move ahead

In addition, the Clippers have agreed to an estimated $260 million community benefits package, the largest ever associated with an arena.

LA Clippers Arena: Inglewood City Council approves environmental report

2020-07-22T18:36:00-04:00

The Clippers’ plans for a billion-dollar arena complex moved closer to reality Tuesday after Inglewood’s City Council voted unanimously to approve the environmental impact report for the project. The approval came seven months after the release of the report, which spanned thousands of pages and required nearly two years to complete [...].

Image courtesy of the Los Angeles Clippers

According to the Los Angeles Times, concerns over gentrification brought forward by local groups opposing the 18,000-seat Clippers Arena and nearby NFL SoFi Stadium development were ruled out by the report.

AECOM is the architect of the $1.2 billion arena complex proposal for the Steve Ballmer-owned NBA team.

Los Angeles Clippers buy Forum arena with plans to move forward with another stadium next door

2020-03-25T18:57:00-04:00

The billionaire owner of the Los Angeles Clippers basketball franchise has purchased the Forum arena in Inglewood, California for $400 million as part of a plan to construct a new AECOM-designed basketball megaplex for the team next door to the existing complex.

Previously on Archinect: “Plans for LA Clippers arena in Inglewood move ahead.” Image courtesy of the Los Angeles Clippers.

Plans were unveiled last year for a basketball net-inspired 900,000-square-foot arena that would become the new home for the basketball team. The Forum, designed in 1967 by architects Charles Luckman & Associates, is currently used for a variety of sporting events and concerts. The complex was designed as a modern feat of engineering by architect Charles Luckman and storied engineers Carl Johnson and Svend Nielsen and was the first arena of its size to be built without interior columns.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the Los Angeles Clippers owner Steven Ballmer paid $400 million in cash to the New ...

Plans for LA Clippers arena in Inglewood move ahead

2020-01-03T14:27:00-05:00

Gov. Gavin Newsom has approved fast-tracking the billion-dollar arena complex the Clippers want to build in Inglewood, as plans for the project continue to advance. [...] The Madison Square Garden Co., which owns the Forum less than two miles away, called the arena plan “deeply flawed” and pledged to continue its fight against the project.

Designs for the proposed $1.2 billion basketball arena by AECOM were first unveiled in July last year.

"The Clippers, owned by billionaire Steve Ballmer, will install 330 electric vehicle chargers at the arena, fund 1,000 residential chargers in the surrounding area, purchase two electric buses and 10 electric vehicles for Inglewood’s municipal fleet, and plant 1,000 trees as part of its agreement with CARB," Daily Breeze reports. "The arena is expected to meet a Gold standard under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification program."

Image courtesy of the Los Angeles Clippers

If approved and completed, the 18,000-seat venue would become the new Inglewood home of the Los Angeles Clippers, just in time for the 2024-25 NBA season and coinciding with the end of the team's lease with its current home, the Staples Center in Downtown Los Angeles.

The planned arena is located near the currently under-construction Los Angeles Rams football stadium designed by HKS...

AECOM's basketball net-inspired designs for a new Los Angeles Clippers arena are unveiled

2019-07-26T16:18:00-04:00

The Clippers on Thursday unveiled the first look at their proposed Inglewood arena, an 18,500-seat, billion-dollar project funded by owner Steve Ballmer that the team believes will begin construction on time in 2021 and open three years later.

The basketball net-inspired designs for the 900,000-square-foot arena include a solar panel tile cladding system as well as a sunken basketball court overlooked by stacked seating areas, according to The Los Angeles Times.

Ground-level view of the plaza leading to the arena. Image courtesy of Los Angeles Clippers.

The arena is designed by AECOM, while Anderson Barker Architects and City Design Studio of Los Angeles are designing a series of buildings located with a plaza that leads to the arena. Hood Studios is providing landscape architecture services for the project.

The stadium will be located on a site next door to the forthcoming HKS Architects-designed Los Angeles Rams stadium.