This morning at the Dogpatch Saloon, the Golden State Warriors and Manica Architecture revealed new renderings of the planned arena for Mission Bay, whose last iteration bore unfortunate resemblance to a toilet. In attempt to erase that idea from your memory, the revised renderings come with an imprint of the Bay Bridge etched into the roof. The arena, to be built on 11 acres on Salesforce's former site in Mission Bay, will include more than 18,000 seats, along with upwards of 100,000 square feet of retail, much of it food. The Warriors own the site itself—no public property is involved—but the proposal nevertheless includes a 3.2 acres of plazas and public space, plus a five-and-a-half-acre waterfront park.
In today's Chronicle, Matier & Ross compared the new and improved design to a Discman, noting several updates to the arena's profile:
Gone is much of the rectangular viewing deck that, when coupled with the oval arena, gave the overhead view of the place the appearance of a giant toilet seat with the lid down. The deck has been shaved down to about half its old size, dropped about 13 feet below the roof line and given a sweeping curve. In the Chronicle story, Warriors arena consultant Jesse Blout joked that the new design is an attempt to "flush the toilet bowl forever out of people's consciousness."
From one angle, we can still kind of see the resemblance—one of the aerial views includes a stretch of canopy that keeps the analogy alive—but then again, how many toilets feature a floor-to-ceiling curtain wall? Thankfully, there's enough detail this time to ward off the temptation to caricature.
Snøhetta, which drafted the original designs of the scuttled proposal for Piers 30-32, is still involved; Craig Dykers is acting as a senior design adviser on a team helmed by Manica Architecture. The project also includes roughly 580,000 square feet of office and lab space, with architects for that portion revealed in the next few months.
The revamped design will be presented to the public at tomorrow's Mission Bay Citizens Advisory Committee meeting. If all goes according to plan, the new arena would break ground in fall 2015 and be up and running in time for the 2018-19 NBA season.
· Warriors Unveil Updated Design of New Sports and Entertainment Center at Mission Bay [NBA.com]
· Warriors Plan to "Refine" the "Work in Progress" Arena Design [Curbed SF]
· Toilet Gibes Spur Warriors to Rethink Mission Bay Arena Design [SFGate]
· Warriors Ditch Plan to Build Arena on Piers 30-32, Opt for Mission Bay Site Instead [Curbed SF]
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