How the Golden 1 Centre became the first indoor sports venue with LEED Platinum designation?

Designing the Golden 1 Centre, home of the NBA Sacramento Kings, was a challenging design due to the already established urban fabric of the city. The new building would need to find a daylighting solution to control glare and heat, satisfy privacy concerns, integrate seamlessly into the curtainwall system while delivering on LEED Platinum mandates.

The main goal of this project was to revitalize the downtown core and to provide a landmark for Sacramento without overwhelming the entire city. This goal for the practice facility encompassed many challenges including being located on the south side of the facade. AECOM worked with the glazier, Bagatelos, who introduced Solera as a potential daylighting solution for this project. Project Lead, Rob Rothblatt, formerly of AECOM, knew he needed a product that could “cut glare and heat, diffuse light and let him put windows near the street while still offering privacy to players and openness when desired.”

In order to create a glazing facade with intricate meaning and detail, Atul Pathare former AECOM Associate Principal and Project Architect says, “this was a challenging collaboration between the AECOM Kansas and San Francisco offices. Renderings were designed on how to build this project to the client’s demands and digital models were designed with the Partners. The 2D models supported the design process by being exported into the next stage of 8 to 10, 3D models using Rhino software.”

The selection of product was important to uphold the standards of LEED and to ensure the building met all LEED mandates for the Platinum designation. The requirements of this building’s sustainability meant Project Lead, Robb Rothblatt had to source translucent glazing that offered high performance, privacy, light diffusion and glare control – all while being seamlessly integrated into the building’s curtainwall system. Additionally, the product chosen needed to balance the recognition of the surrounding nature. Rob explains, “we wanted to evoke the memory of the mountains whether the building was opened or closed with a perforated-metal cladding to signify the Yosemite and Sierra Nevada mountain range.”

On choosing Solera by Advanced Glazings Ltd. as the daylighting solution for this project, Rob says, “Solera was the only product that would’ve done what we needed. It was one of the more effortless things on the project. This was an important job and we needed to ensure all products went through rigorous selection by the municipality and no low-grade products were used.”

“Solera was not only a big player for meeting LEED requirements, but it backed up a bigger metaphor for this project’s story, history and as new landmark in downtown Sacramento” says Robb. He continues saying “Solera was a seamless integration, the color looked great by complimenting the outside curtainwall and the building’s performance goals were met.”

The Golden 1 Centre had many other design impacts to support the project’s LEED Platinum designation. Rob explains “All things were done like they were never done before, we choose giant airport doors, all of the glazings and exterior materials had frits to protect the birds and wildlife to ensure materials weren’t too transparent.” Atul Pathare, former Associate Principal and Project Architect adds, “donated solar panels covered 75% of the roof and battery storage was sourced from Telsa to store excess power.”

The Golden 1 Centre is the first indoor Sports Venue with LEED Platinum designation. Atul Pathare shared how daylighting was a momentous part of this accomplishment, “Solera fit with the r values we needed and required no change or customization to integrate into our existing curtainwall system. We were very pleasantly surprised by Solera.”

AGL is proud to have supported the project team on this incredible design achievement and to have Solera installed in the first indoor-sports venue with LEED Platinum designation.