SBC Center: Design Q & A
Bill Crockett, Ellerbe Becket Principal-in-Charge

What inspired the design? From our earliest discussions with the Spurs organization and the other building tenants, the design goal was clear: create a big-league fan experience in a venue less than half the size of the former building (the Alamodome). We accomplished it by ensuring plenty of daylight in the arena, as well as lots of color. We wanted to appeal to a broad cross section of the public in San Antonio and make everybody will feel comfortable. The amenities and entertainment offerings in the building are available to everyone, from suite holders to the fan who may only attend one game a year.

What’s unique about the building? This is truly a community arena. You don’t find many professional sports arenas with this kind of versatility: basketball, hockey, concerts, family shows, indoor rodeo. There’s seemingly something scheduled every night.

San Antonio patrons will enjoy more intimacy, better and tighter sightlines and the broadest range of experiences we’ve ever delivered in a professional arena: special spaces such as the Mercado and Porch food courts; the Fan Fiesta interactive game zone; and the outdoor shaded plazas. No other NBA arena has this extensive combination of spaces, color and public art that deliver a totally diverse character and feel.

A term we coined during design – “ranch tech” – guided many of our decisions. Ranch tech fuses both forward-thinking contemporary design with the traditions and meaning of the teams and the region.

The stage is set for new traditions to come about. We’ve assigned names to a number of the spaces within building, but the great thing is that inevitably the public enriches the process with alternative “pet” names that often are better than the originals.

Any particular challenges? Creating the right setting for this destination was really a challenge. Fortunately there was an extraordinary investment in development of roads and streets, extensive landscaping, lighting and banners to make the site safe and fun. There has never been an arena that’s had this extent of aesthetic landscaping and lighting to create just the right setting.

Another challenge was to provide a building that looks and feels like it belongs in San Antonio. We employed a regional architectural approach with intense use of color and graphics to tie everything together. The building works well with the rodeo facilities and is a good neighbor to Freeman Coliseum.

In the wake of September 11, were any special security concerns raised? We’ve had a year since September 11 to evaluate the implications and the bottom line is that there have been a number of relatively subtle issues addressed in the architecture and operations strategy. For example, you’ll notice metal detectors in use. We have the benefit of a very large site with lots of area and a generous public plaza space with shaded areas to que patrons in comfort. We think we’ve taken positive steps to deal with very real security issues and we’ve been able to integrate the additional security measures architecturally so that most patrons won’t even know they are in place.

About the Designers
Ellerbe Becket teamed with Lake/Flato Architects and Kell Munoz of San Antonio to provide architectural and engineering services for the SBC Center. The design team is a marriage of Ellerbe Becket’s national and international sports experience with Lake/Flato and Kell Munoz’s knowledge of the San Antonio region. In the last decade, Ellerbe Becket has completed 40 sports and entertainment facilities in 25 states and six foreign countries. Approximately 85 million fans a year (about a third of the U.S. population) attend events in Ellerbe Becket buildings. Some of the notable names include the Centennial Olympic Stadium for the 1996 Atlanta Games; Turner Field in Atlanta; Bank One Ballpark in Phoenix; and renovations to such landmarks as Madison Square Garden in New York City and Notre Dame Football Stadium.

SBC Center is one of 15 NBA/NHL arenas designed by Ellerbe Becket. Others include the Fleet Center in Boston, Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, MCI Center in Washington, D.C., the Rose Garden in Portland and America West Arena in Phoenix.

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