Structure Type: Arena Tensile Facade
Project Scope: Design, engineering, fabrication & installation
Project Size: 242,300 SF
Material: PTFE, ETFE & AESS Steel
Location: Inglewood, CA
Completion Date: August 2024
Market Segment: Stadiums
Owner: Murphy’s Bowl (Los Angeles Clippers)
Architect: AECOM
Eng.: Walter P. Moore
General Contractor: AECOM Hunt / Turner NBA Joint Venture (AHTJV)
ETS provided a comprehensive design-build solution, including engineering, design, mockups, fabrication and installation of the Main Arena diagrid tensile membrane façade system, as well as Plaza Trellis and Escalator Canopies to the Intuit Dome project.
The iconic building skin is a series of diamond-shaped, tensile membrane panels cladding the vibrant red diagrid structure. ETS provided 900 tons of secondary steel frames clad with PTFE mesh (160,000 SF, 283 rhombus panels) and PTFE laminate (68,000 SF, 12 large panels) membrane. Additionally large, fritted single-skin ETFE panels (10,300 SF) with reinforcing cables are used overhead above the atrium space in the cut-out portions of the cladding. The overall effect of the swooping cut-outs within the interwoven field of diamond-shaped panels was inspired by a basketball passing through a net.
Outside the arena envelope, fans interact with two additional structures constructed by ETS. Towards the northwest corner of the site near the Century Blvd and Prairie Ave intersection is the Plaza Trellis and Escalator canopies. The Plaza Trellis is a great example of ETS’ preferred Base Plates Up scope of work, inclusive of 105 tons of AESS steel and 6,890 SF of PTFE sails twisted within the overhead gridwork to provide shade to tiered seating which looks out towards the LA Clippers Flagship Store. The Escalator canopies utilize a single-skin ETFE system across 1,020 SF to provide shade as visitors enter and exit the site from the West Garage.
While the fan experience within the Intuit Dome will be second to none, the approach and exterior experience are visually dynamic, celebrating the versatility of tensile membrane structures.
