Upon its grand opening (Thursday 17 August 2024) when fans pour into the Intuit Dome, the world’s first climate positive arena and new home to the Los Angeles Clippers, they’ll be stepping into a multipurpose venue unlike any other in significant part thanks to sustainable mechanical engineering.
Located in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood, California, the 17,700-seat, all-electric arena packs a punch on the amenity front. In addition to housing five basketball courts, a practice facility and training center, and an outdoor plaza with two bars, a restaurant, and a team store, the venue has the world’s largest Halo Board, an oval, double-sided 4K scoreboard that measures nearly an acre. Two megawatts of rooftop solar panels and 11 megawatts of on-site battery storage contribute to the facility operating carbon free, meaning it will directly produce no pollution from burning natural gas or other fossil fuels.
Two megawatts of rooftop solar panels and 11 megawatts of on-site battery storage contribute to the facility operating carbon free
For their part, sustainable mechanical experts Henderson Engineers has incorporated sustainable technologies like heat pumps, heat recovery chillers, highly efficient mag-bearing chillers, and arena bowl under-seat supply air distribution, an innovative, energy-efficient system that provides ventilation and air conditioning from underneath the seats instead of from ducts hanging overhead.
The HVAC system is configured to provide the seating bowl, locker rooms, and player and coach areas with 100% outside air, creating a clean indoor air quality environment and limiting energy use by taking advantage of Southern California’s pleasant climate. Such forward-thinking design is expected to help earn the facility a LEED Platinum certification, the highest sustainability rating from the U.S. Green Building Council.
“With only 30 NBA teams to go around, any new arena within the league provides a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make a bold statement. One of the major goals of this project was to raise the bar when it comes to the level of amenities at a sports facility to ensure memorable experiences for millions of fans for decades to come,” said Eric Taylor, senior mechanical engineer at Henderson Engineers. “The owner and design teams collectively also wanted to push the boundaries of how to sustainably build and operate an arena, and we were intentional about Intuit Dome being a net positive for the environment and a shining example for other sports venues in the future.”
The sustainability credentials of Intuit Dome are expected to lead to LEED Platinum certification, the highest sustainability rating from the U.S. Green Building Council
Resource conservation also played a key part in how Henderson Engineers approached the project. Intuit Dome’s cooling towers use 100% reclaimed water and are equipped with a water treatment system that maximizes water reuse. As a result, the facility’s cooling towers use 40% less water than traditional cooling towers.
“California has been prone to droughts during the past decade, so water conservation was top of mind across the entire project as climate change continues to be a challenge,” explained Taylor. “Your typical cooling tower cycles water a couple of times before evaporation and sediment get in the way. The make-up water treatment system is basically a water softener that treats the reclaimed water and allows us to recycle it up to 20 times. This level of efficiency is a great example of the lengths this project has taken to operate as sustainably as possible.”
