ShoWare Center
Kent, Wash.
Square Feet: 154,400
Construction Cost: $63 million
Year in Showcase: 2009
Project Description
The ShoWare Center is a dynamic new venue for sports, entertainment, concerts and trade shows. Home to the Western Hockey League’s Seattle Thunderbirds, the center can hold 6,100 spectators for hockey and 7,800 for concerts.
The building features a giant sloping and polished stainless-steel soffit at the perimeter of the glass-enclosed lobby that reflects patron movement, graphics and lighting to amplify event excitement. Outside, oversized puck-shaped structures serve as benches and meeting places, and supersized graphics inside — including jumbo section numbers and extra-large “people” symbols at restrooms — animate the experience. Green “energy lines” painted on the ground, highlighted by LED lights at night, lead visitors toward the action.
Sustainable elements include a variety of water-efficient features that will lead to an estimated 40 percent savings in water usage, as well as energy-smart lighting, heating and cooling systems. A rainwater collection system uses water gathered from the roof to replenish the existing wetlands adjacent to the facility’s site, and the parking area is constructed over a layer of gravel, which acts as a sponge to provide controlled release of rainwater back into the drainage system.
Project Details
Architect of Record: LMN Architects; Seattle, Wash.
Occupancy: December 2008
Vendors
Arena Seating:
Irwin Seating Co.
Dashers:
Athletica
Floor Covers:
Athletica
Flooring, Fitness Center:
Mondo
Lighting:
Sterner Lighting Systems Inc.
Refrigeration Units:
Pace Industrial Inc.
Scoreboards/Timing Systems:
Daktronics Inc.
