NBA's Washington Wizards conjure up practice venue/concert arena hybrid
by Kim Megson | 04 Oct 2016
US National Basketball Association (NBA) franchise the Washington Wizards is creating a new training facility that will double as a concert venue and events arena.
While competing teams in Brooklyn, Chicago and Toronto have previously merged practice venues with residential accommodation, the Washington team claims it is the first in the NBA to actively create a mixed-use leisure facility.
According to The Washington Post, the plans outlined by the Wizards involve a 45,000sq ft (4,180sq m) training complex, which will include a 4,200-seat arena capable of hosting concerts, community events and basketball fixtures for women’s team the Washington Mystics. The project will be designed by architecture firms ROSSETTI and Marshall Moya Design.
“I think the way we are doing this makes this is one of the most unique facilities,” Gregory O’Dell, president of Washington sports agency Events DC, told the Post. “Nowhere else have we seen the two concepts combined. We’ve looked at a couple of training facilities and those training facilities were really done for one team and one entity.”
The site, which will be owned by the Wizards and operated in collaboration with Events DC, will be built on the east campus of the city’s former St. Elizabeths hospital. About 38 per cent of the total space in the US$65m €58.2m, £50.9m) project on will be dedicated solely to the Wizards.
The practice venue will be surrounded by late 19th century brick buildings. To respect the location, the architects have used bricks in their design, with a modern roof line lifting to make the inner bowl visible from outside the stadium.
Inside there will be two seating tiers in a split-bowl design. On the left will be the setup for concerts and on the right, the setup for a Mystics game. Retail bays built into the side of the arena will be open even when there isn’t an event indoors in a bid to stimulate the local economy and a sense of community around the facility.
The project, which will also include swimming pools, training rooms, a players’ lounge and a team kitchen, is scheduled to open in 2019.
The Wizards is one of several franchises touted as a potential anchor tenant for the revamped RFK Stadium-Armory Campus in Washington D.C., with architects OMA currently developing two alternative masterplans for the 190-acre sports and cultural complex.
NBA Washington Wizards architecture sports design Rossetti basketball
The design combines old and contemporary architectural references Credit: ROSSETTI
06 Apr 2016
OMA reveal masterplan concepts for vast Robert F. Kennedy sports complex in Washington D.C.
US National Basketball Association (NBA) franchise the Washington Wizards is creating a new training facility that will double as a concert venue and events arena. While competing teams in Brooklyn, Chicago and Toronto have previously merged practice venues with residential accommodation, the Washington team claims it is the first in the NBA to actively create a mixed-use leisure facility. According to The Washington Post, the plans outlined by the Wizards
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