Golden1 Center (G1C) signals the next steps in the evolution of the arena and pushes the architectural boundaries in two significant ways. First, as an urban response with an indoor-outdoor design, it connects with the City and everts the traditionally inverted arena. Second, as the first LEED Platinum certified indoor arena, it is the most comfortable, connected and technically advanced venue in the world, deemed the “Gold Standard” of arenas by the NBA Commissioner.
G1C meets the architectural demands of rejuvenating the downtown on a tight urban site with a parametrically driven design centered on being “uniquely Sacramento.” 100+ striations of aluminum and glass echo the athletic power of the Sierra Nevada while folding to reduce the scale of a large building and engage with the city. Curved in plan, intuitive wayfinding navigates guests to a plaza with a monumental set of aircraft doors. When opened, the arena is connected to the activated plaza from the indoor-outdoor “Million Trees” balcony to the Koons sculpture anchoring the public realm. Inside, the bowl creates a unique home-court advantage with a 360-degree open concourse that places 10,000 of the 17,000 seats close to the action.
With the highest LEED score of any sports venue in the world, G1C boasts several technological firsts. Central to both fan comfort and retractable aircraft hangar doors is a displacement system in the lower bowl, ensuring optimal heating, cooling and humidity at the court surface. With the crowdsourced FanFirst Comfort solution, G1C is the most comfortable arena in the industry. Everywhere technology serves the architectural idea. A full roof of Photovoltaics creates energy independence, Solera glass allows diffused daylight for the practice facility and almost a thousand feet of green wall allows this mammoth building to rest lightly in the city on a bed of greenery.