Style and Design
Big, HD-quality displays are essential to new venues now, and the design of the Barclays Center puts a premium on display technology both inside and out. Indoors, the arena’s center-hung scoreboard features 6mm true HD in the main display.
“They’re used to seeing HD content at home, we want the same thing when they come in the venue,” says Foley.
But perhaps the real magic in the display technology is outside the venue. Arguably the arena’s most distinctive feature is the wraparound digital signage display that fronts its main entrance. Inside of what stadium designers refer to as ‘the oculus’ are more than 3,000 square feet of Daktronics LEDs arranged in a seamless 360-degree, wrapped display that broadcasts advertisements, event information and game highlights among its digital content.
“I wanted it to be seamless all the way around so when you look at it and you play video on it, it looks just like you’re looking at a [single] screen,” says Foley.
The facility is sheathed in distinctive pre-weathered steel tiles, and outdoor LED lighting operated from the facility control room lights up the structure at night, highlighting its unique architecture.
3D modeling was an integral part of the design process for the Barclays Center, says Foley. Among the major features that process enabled was the design of the oculus as well as the arena’s scoreboard, built in full HD, in keeping up with the most recent arena construction trends.
“I wanted an HD main video board so it kind of simulates you sitting at home in front of your TV,” he says.
Foley and Daktronics officials use 3D renderings to determine the best shape and size of the scoreboard to create a finished product perfectly suited to their purposes.
“We basically built a model of the scoreboard in 3D and we would locate in all the seats where [patrons are] sitting, how it looks,” Foley says. “I don’t know how they built buildings before without 3D models.”
