Sprint Arena Design is Complete

[jiveturkey]

Sprint arena design revealed

By KEVIN COLLISON

The Kansas City Star


The final design of the Sprint Center arena, described as “a glistening jewel in the revitalization of downtown Kansas City,” was revealed at a City Council meeting today.

The drawings of the 18,500-seat arena planned for 14th Street and Grand Boulevard were presented by members of the Downtown Arena Design Team and showed a curvilinear building clad mostly in glass that will be transparent enough to allow views both into and out of the facility.

“From the beginning, we’ve based this design in the belief this building should represent Kansas City’s honesty, clarity, vision and the Midwestern values we all cherish,” said Brad Schrock, the lead arena designer, in a statement.

“The manipulation of the glass skin provides a one-of-a-kind events venue that will highlight Kansas City in a unique way.”

Whether the design matches the world-class expectations that Kansas City citizens had because of the language used to describe the project may be in the eye of the beholder. Voters approved funding for the arena a year ago following an expensive campaign spearheaded by Mayor Kay Barnes.

That approval led to a fierce competition between an all-star team of local sports architects that banned together to become the DADT, and a team made up of world-renowned architect Frank Gehry and Crawford Architects, a local firm.

The DADT team won the competition last fall by dazzling a city selection team with renderings that depicted a transparent arena design lit up with state-of-the-art electronics. That design, however, proved far more expensive than the $250 million budget allotted for the project, and a more muted version that shed the sharp angles and large roof replaced it.

The final design closely resembles a working design first seen by the public in May. At the time, it was described as a slightly “pillow-like” shape.

Brad Clark, another arena designer with the team, said the surface of the Sprint Center should be a fascinating and shifting display of light.

“The taut glass-skin wrapping the seating bowl and concourses will be an ever-changing tapestry as light plays across the surface,” Clark said in a statement. “The image will vary hour by hour as the color, intensity and quality of light change.

“At night, the building will become a beacon, marking its place in our new downtown.”

A final price tag did not accompany the final design. A schedule released by the DADT indicated a “guaranteed maximum price” won’t be finalized until October.

In a recent interview, City Manager Wayne Cauthen held out the prospect the budget could grow beyond the $250 million advertised to voters in last year’s election.

“If we come up with the budget and it doesn’t look like a quality facility,” Cauthen said, “then I think we as a city need to take a deep breath and say what do we really want?

“Do we want to just fit something in a $250 million budget or something we will be really proud of?”

The construction schedule calls for the facility to open in the third quarter of 2007, several months after Barnes originally had hoped. She had wanted the facility to be completed before she left office in March 2007, but that timetable became derailed because of delays in hiring a contractor and the slow pace of producing a final design.

The Sprint Center complex also will include a National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame sponsored by the locally based National Association of Basketball Coaches in a separate annex. That 40,000-square-foot facility will have interactive displays intended to make the experience more than a static exhibit of the history and personalities of the game.

Entry to the arena will be on two levels. The main entrance will be at the northwest corner of the site at 13th and Grand. The entry plaza will stretch nearly the full length of the Grand Boulevard frontage, combining paved areas with landscaping and a water feature.

The seven-level interior of the Sprint Center should be comparable to the finest professional sports arenas in America, according to the architects. The arena is designed to accommodate an NBA and/or NHL franchise as well as major college sporting events such as the NCAA basketball regionals.

“The seating bowl is intimate and ‘event focused,’ maximizing the numbers of patrons that can be seated close to the action,” said DADT architect Steve Allison in a statement.

“The concourses are voluminous and take full advantage of the dramatic views afforded by the glass skin,” said Rafael Garcia, another DADT architect, in a statement. “Throughout the Sprint Center people will experience fresh colors and carefully selected finishes that create cohesive and dynamic spaces.”

The city is partnering with Anschutz Entertainment Group of Los Angeles to build the arena. AEG is contributing $50 million to the project and will manage the facility in return. AEG also is responsible for any construction cost overruns. The company is leading the charge to recruit a major professional sports team to be the key tenant.

The Downtown Arena Design Team is made up of HOK, Sport+Venue+Event, Ellerbe Becket and 360 Architecture.

The Sprint Center will include 72 private suites. Other amenities include men’s and women’s restrooms at the main and upper concourse with an average of one fixture per 46 spectators. The entire building is 657,000-square feet.

It will seat 17,104 people for hockey; 18,449 for basketball; 14,444 for concerts with the stage on one end, and 18,954 people for concerts with a center stage.

For more information, read The Star tomorrow.