Arena Design Team Promises Big Things

Project developers of the new arena in Downtown Sacramento say they're going to try something with the design of the building that no one else has tried before.

Hypothetical renderings of what the building might look like share common aspects: an arena that is partially open to the outside, the existence of a community plaza, and the ability to project images on the side of the building.

Developers showed off three  potential designs of what the building might look like to City Council last night.  Chris Granger with the Sacramento Kings says each design is unique, but all have an indoor/outdoor feel.

"Arenas literally everywhere else in the country that are much more of a hermetically sealed box," says Granger.  "Once you are in, you are in, you cannot see outside, you cannot see natural light.  We want to go the complete opposite route and be able to connect the outside both in terms of open air as well as open windows."

Outside, Granger says the arena will likely have a shade structure and plaza and will be built to allow K street to be reconnected.  

Developer Mark Friedman says there are five principles the design team has identified which are taken into account when considering any amenity the new arena might have: architecture, the environment, concert viewing, civic involvement, and how it shows the greatness of Sacramento.

"Every one of the ideas that we're looking at are tested by those five principles," says Friedman.  "When we look at a drawing, when we look at a plaza layout, we're asking ourselves, you know, 'How does this particular layout meet the goal of creating a space that people will want to be in every day of the year?"

The design team has performed 13,000 surveys to gather community ideas and will continue hold open houses. 

The City Council voted 7-1 to support the goals identified by the design team.