Bonnifait + Associates Architects - Atelierworkshop Ltd

Barclays Center

Barclays Center
© Bruce Damonte

Barclays Center

 Shop Architects

ARCHITECTS
Shop Architects

DESIGN BUILDER
Hunt Construction Group Inc

ARCHITECT STRUCTURAL ENGINEER
Tomthorntonasetti

OF RECORD
Beckellerbeett/aecom

MANUFACTURERS
 Cascade Architectural, Island Exterior Fabricators, Terrazzo & Marble, 1212 Studio, Ceramica Sant'agostino, Construction Specialties, Daktronics, Dissimilar Metal Design, Insight, Kkdc, Lukas Lighting, Vorwerk

ACOUSTICAL ENGINEER
Acoustical Design Group

LEED CONSULTANT
E4

LIGHTING CONSULTANT
Goldstick Lighting

GEOTECHNICAL
Langan

MICROCLIMATE ANALYSIS
Rwdi

SERVICES
Interior Design, Façade Fabrication & Coordination

VERTICAL TRANSPORTATION
Vda

PHOTOGRAPHS
Bruce Damonte

AREA
675000 Ft²

YEAR
2012

LOCATION
Brooklyn, United States

CATEGORY
Sports Architecture

Text description provided by architect.

The Barclays Center is the home of the Brooklyn Nets and the site of more than 200 planned cultural and sporting events annually. It serves as the anchor of the Atlantic Yards development.

Barclays Center
© Bruce Damonte
Barclays Center
© Bruce Damonte

Which will function to relieve some of the pressure for new and affordable housing in the adjoining Brooklyn neighborhoods. The goals of the project were to create a venue that would be an economic and social catalyst for Brooklyn, while also blending into the neighborhood.

The design of the Barclays Center achieves a striking balance between iconic form and performance. Integrated into one of the busiest urban intersections in the New York metro area, the building reflects its function and surroundings through form, material, and scale.

Barclays Center
© Bruce Damonte
Barclays Center
© Bruce Damonte

One of the guiding principles of the arena’s design was to integrate its form with the surrounding neighborhood.

The building relates at both a human and neighborhood scale, with a high level of transparency at sidewalk level reversing the inwardly focused experience typical with most arena architecture.

Barclays Center
© Bruce Damonte
Barclays Center
© Bruce Damonte

Views into the building and out to the sidewalk create a scaled intimacy between those insideThis connection with the surrounding streetscape is further heightened by pushing the event level down one full story, creating a dramatic view into the arena bowl and scoreboard from the main entry plaza at Atlantic and Flatbush Avenues.

An added benefit of placing the main event space of the arena below grade is the reduction in the arena's overall height, ensuring that its scale relates comfortably to its surroundings. and outside the arena, providing a true sense of connection between the building and its urban context.

Barclays Center
© Bruce Damonte
Barclays Center
© Bruce Damonte

The building's sculptural façade is wrapped in alternating bands of weathered steel and glass. The interplay of these two textures and materials emphasizes the contrast of light and dark: the scaled intricacy of the curving metal latticework creates a rich and dynamically textured surface.

While the glass bands introduce a sense of lightness, opening the building to the surrounding city.weathered steel is unique in that its rich patina reflects changes in the weather and daylight, while the taut glass skin reflects the colors of the sky and surrounding cityscape.

Barclays Center
© Bruce Damonte
Barclays Center
© Bruce Damonte

The lower band of steel lattice which wraps the building’s ground floor level around 6th Avenue and Dean Street rises up to create openings and views into the lobbies and main concourse.

The grand civic gesture of this sculptural form is a 30-foot high steel canopy, reaching 85 feet over the main entrance plaza at the intersection of Flatbush and Atlantic Avenues. Viewed from under the transit canopy, this oculus anchors the central area of the plaza, creating a heightened sense of arrival and a truly urban gathering space.

A unique feature of the arena's canopy is a large opening or oculus inscribed in its thickened metal surface. This oculus, the size of a basketball court, frames a dramatic view of the sky; and inscribed within the depth of its interior skin is a 360-degree panel of LED signage.


Barclays Center
Drawing
Barclays Center
Model


Barclays Center
Scale-up
Barclays Center
Section diagram

Bonnifait + Associates Architects - Atelierworkshop Ltd
T +64 4 3846688
Bonnifait + Associates Architects - Atelierworkshop Ltd
43 Haining Street, Te Aro, Wellington 6011, New Zealand