The stadium sits under a major LAX flight path, and as seen from above that roof bears an uncanny resemblance to the Rams former shield-shaped logo. (If you’ve roasted at the Coliseum or at Dodger Stadium, you will appreciate that.) The ETFE also will allow concerts, community gatherings, e-sports, the Super Bowl and the Olympics to carry on in the rare case of rain. The roof, which covers and unifies the stadium bowl, plaza and adjacent arena, is clad in ethylene tetrafluoroethylene, or ETFE, a tough, translucent plastic that, thanks to its dotted frit pattern, shades fans from about half of the sun’s heat. These openings can “tune” the wind flow, according to HKS, which designed recent stadiums for the Minnesota Vikings, Indianapolis Colts and Dallas Cowboys. It pulls in ocean breezes through its aerodynamic shape, its permeable flanks, the lifting of its seating bowl above the ground-level concourse and massive (60 feet by 60 feet) adjustable openings in its roof that can slide like sunroofs on cars. In classic SoCal fashion, the stadium, its edges open to the outdoors along the sides, blurs the line between interior and exterior, inviting visitors, and views, inside. She also is imagining the surroundings for the forthcoming Lucas Museum of Narrative Art. “It’s all about how the stadium is part of the landscape and the landscape is part of the stadium,” said Studio-MLA founder Mia Lehrer, who has designed green spaces for Dodger Stadium and for Banc of California Stadium in Exposition Park. Along the way they will proceed via a fractured landscape of textured pathways, gardens, patios and food stalls, descending through what the project’s landscape architect, Studio-MLA, calls “canyons” - terraced trails filled with earthen mounds and plants and trees from around California, weaving in and out of the stadium. 25 that games will be played without fans “until further notice.” Once fans are allowed to come, they will approach a stadium whose field level is embedded 100 feet into the earth, reducing the building’s bulk as seen from the rest of the neighborhood and making a trip inside reminiscent of a trek down bluffs to a beach in, say, Malibu. Workers have been putting the finishing touches on SoFi despite the risk of COVID-19 infection (more than 50 have tested positive) and two deaths on the site, including one caused by a fall from the roof.Ĭiting the pandemic, the Rams, Chargers and SoFi jointly announced Aug. This is something that only Dodger Stadium - embedded into the earth, obsessed with the future and surrounded by palm trees, the landscapes of Elysian Park and, alas, a heroically scaled parking lot - has managed to accomplish in terms of local sports venues. “Something that would resonate with this climate and with this place.” “We were trying to create an expression of Southern California,” said Lance Evans, principal with HKS Architects. Live), this complex - its stadium’s façade curving like the sweep of the coast - is authentically inspired by, and caters to, its setting. But more than any of those developments (including downtown Los Angeles’ L.A.
So-called sports-anchored developments are becoming the norm nationwide, from Patriot Place in New England to the Arlington Entertainment District in Texas. The idea of a stadium as the focal point for a mixed-use project is not new.