Golden 1 Center Features Nature-Inspired Design

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Construction on the Golden 1 Center is underway, and the soon-to-be home of the Sacramento Kings basketball team is being designed to achieve LEED Gold certification.

Currently on track for a September 2016 completion, the Golden 1 Center will hold an estimated 17,500 people. Turner Construction is serving as the project contractor, while ICON Venue Group is the project manager and AECOM is the architect. All three companies have offices in Sacramento.

Crews began installing the building’s aluminum exterior and 60-foot-tall glass entrance last year. As construction continues, the metallic arena walls are starting to take on the Million Trees theme, with hundreds of thousands of 3-inch modernist leaf designs being etched into the exterior. The Million Trees panels are designed to create the illusion of billowing valley oak tree canopies on the arena’s exterior, reported The Sacramento Bee. In fact, the design team used a photograph of a leafy street in Sacramento as inspiration. Rob Rothblatt, arena chief architect for AECOM, told The Sacramento Bee that the arena’s colonnaded walls angle in and out rhythmically, giving a feeling of movement, and said that a living wall of plants will cover the base of the building.

While the building features a whimsical, nature-inspired design, it also contains several green building elements, including sophisticated cooling and heating systems. The arena’s exterior will be approximately one-fourth glass, dotted with frits that will help partially block heat from the sun. Transparency is also a major theme throughout the building, with the arena’s two main entrance walls being made entirely of glass. The aluminum portions of the façade also have diamond-shaped windows that bump out at right angles, allowing people inside to see the skyline, reported The Sacramento Bee. Even the glass hangar doors on K Street have the ability to roll up and be opened during events, enhancing the connection to nature.

The cost of the project is estimated to be $509 million, and the city of Sacramento, the arena’s owner, is funding $255 million in cash and land value. The Kings will pay the remaining cost.