A Landmark Designed for Entertainment

Winning the major US Design competition for the San Jose Sports Arena, seating 17,500 people for a wide variety of sports, major musical symphony and rock concerts, and the Convention Center of the West. The challenge was to consider how such a major building could fit into its surroundings. To do this successfully my idea was to reduce the arena’s visual impact by partially embedding it into the landscape. The result created a different relationship between a major civic structure and its site. Public response predicted that the arena would "rival any other."

Most of the existing arenas are circular in shape, while most of the sports events are oval in shape. So why not to follow the event shape? This will provide for better seating arrangement, better view lines from every seat, and will allow for majority of the seats to have a better view of the activity. The structure would follow the seating pattern.

To reduce the visual impact the arena could be half sunk into a garden.

Surprisingly the newspapers, found another aspect of the competition. The winning design has been created by a woman architect!

The experience became more than the design of a major sports arena. It became a reminder that the architecture that has the opportunity to shape our cities and communities must be open to everyone with vision, ability, and courage to participate.

That experience led me to become a co-founder of San Francisco Women in Design, an organization dedicated to advancing the participation of women in architecture and design.

The project became part of two stories. One was the creation of a major civic landmark, designed to reduce its impact on the city landscape. The other was the effort to open the profession to women whose ideas, talent, and contributions had too often been overlooked. The competition planted another seed, one that encouraged more women to participate in shaping the world around them. I was not designing just an arena. The result changed the place unexpectedly. It illuminated and helped others see what architecture can accomplish.

See the built project: San Jose Sports Arena →
See what people say: A Landmark Designed for Entertainment →