2007 AIA Michigan Design Honor Award

 Palace of Auburn Hills
North Entry Addition
Auburn Hills, Michigan

Jury Comment:
This energetic, sculptural addition has been flawlessly and seamlessly integrated into the existing arena

Project Description:
Continuing its legacy as America’s most innovative arena, this sports and entertainment venue underwent one of its largest renovation projects to date. The project created a new grand entrance which provides guests with additional concourse space, increased dining options and amenities, additional box office windows, a new retail area, a dramatic restaurant/club and ground-breaking lounge/club areas.

Context/Need: The existing building was conceived of as an extruded circular volume, within which the entire original programmatic requirements were accommodated. The circular footprint of the structure had been superimposed over a square “pedestrian pad” (plaza and sidewalk). An opaque enclosure wraps the entire existing facility, revealing little of its interior nature, nor the activity within. Within 8 yrs, this successful sports and entertainment enterprise found itself in dire need of additional space and resulted in the first addition outside the boundaries of its circular footprint. This first addition occupied the southwest triangular corner of this pedestrian pad with limited vision on how this would influence subsequent expansion projects. The brief for the first addition responded to growth in administrative needs and incorporated additional event related functions within the building. The first brief had little to do with patron experience. It was this lack that prompted the organization to consider a second renovation project, focusing on amenity needs and event experiences.

Response: The second (2005) brief was almost entirely about the event patron experience. The brief included: 1) a food and beverage café unlike anything offered to their regular admission customer; 2) an exclusive, high-end membership dining experience that can accommodate up to 800 people; 3) luxury hospitality area and suites with access to the event floor. The site development strategy was to occupy another triangular footprint at the northwest entrance preserving the last two “corners” for future development. This entrance is located at the high portion of the site, and unlike the other two entrances, directly accesses the main circulation level, known as the “Main Concourse Level”. Accommodating over 65,000SF of new program on the available 25,000SF footprint translated to stacking the program and giving significant consideration for appropriate vertical integration. The new Club Suites is located below grade, with access to the event floor where their event seats are located. The new 17,000SF Club Dining area is elevated, enhancing its exclusivity and takes advantage of views of the adjacent wooded lot and wetland preserve. The ground level (Main Concourse Level) is unique to the other two levels in that it functions as one of the four main entrance/exit points for this 20,000 person venue. Its transitional nature as a major egress path is contrasted only by its function as a dynamic food and beverage café, with serving “pods” that encourage gathering and socializing (pre-event and post-event). This level is at the intersection of horizontal circulation into the rest of the building and integrates the upper Dining Level with the Lower Club/Suite Level at exclusive linkage points. The Lower Suite Level is also served by a separate off-street entrance for exclusive entry.

Design Concept: The Addition Project explores a series of inversions. Inversion 1: The three discrete programmatic functions were treated as exterior “event rooms” connected to the main event venue through a new wide penetration in the building with no ability to directly view the main event. This is a contrast to the typical strategy of providing enhanced amenities with views of the event. 2: Entertainment venues of this nature are event driven. The temporal aspect of events quickly draws a critical mass of people in a relatively short period of time, pre-event and post-event. Both these periods contribute significantly to the patron’s assessment of their overall event experience. In most circumstances, this event experience does not begin until one is within the main venue. The new “event rooms” are wrapped in a transparent façade that is located in effect outside the main building enclosure such that from the parking lot, one’s pre-event experience begins. Inversion 3: The event patron is typically a spectator of events or performances. This project explored the notion of inverting the relationship of spectator and performer. The spectator is displayed on the exterior as the pre-act performer – the “opening act”. Formally, the building solution attempted to challenge the volumetric boundaries between the internal spatial experience and external physical parameters. We envisioned this boundary expressed on the exterior as a net-like fixed membrane (curtain wall) capturing the “event rooms” (program space). This net/membrane references the “x-ing” or diamond pattern found on the existing building, and the “net” that is found attached to a basketball backboard rim. This boundary is further accentuated by the eccentricity of the floating floor protrusion and the tension implied by the sloped curtain-wall.

Conclusion: Functionally successful, this project accomplished the client’s desire to provide new revenue sources while offering their customers dynamic new amenities within an environment that captures the energy and festivity of an event driven facility.

 

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