Since its Oct. 2021 opening, Seattle’s 17,000-seat Climate Pledge Arena has set its sights on becoming the most progressive, responsible, and sustainable arena in the world, with a net-zero carbon status, no single-use plastic, water conservation, and zero waste as some of its initial ambitions.
Originally opened in 1962 as part of the Seattle World’s Fair, the arena, first known as the Seattle Center Coliseum, was renovated in 1995 as KeyArena and then completely rebuilt in 2020-2021 with a reported $1.15 billion in private investment.
As Idibri senior consultant David Battershell notes, the latest upgrade wasn’t just a simple renovation. The original arena’s roof, for starters, “is a historic landmark and couldn’t be torn down, so it had to be lifted off for work to begin. The rest of the building was then completely dismantled, the floor was lowered 20 feet, and the new arena was built up to where the original roof would eventually be replaced.”
Along with naming rights, where it opted for “Climate Pledge” to raise awareness of the venue’s unique sustainability initiatives rather than simply tout its own company brand, Amazon is featuring its contactless Amazon One and Just Walk Out payment systems to eliminate checkout and payment delays at stores and food concessions within the arena.
While architects Populous and general contractor Mortenson met client Oak View Group’s need to preserve the iconic roofline, new upgrades changed the undercarriage, adding dozens of vertical lapendary baffles.
A perforated metal panel on both sides of the upper deck lets fans maximize the noise in the bowl, providing home venue advantage for basketball or hockey games. Adjustable acoustic features include retractable 40-foot acoustic curtains, which help open up the bowl and make it louder during games while muting the echo during concerts.
The main arena sound system is based around JBL Professional VTX A series (VTX A12 and VTX A8 line arrays, with VTX S28 subs) all powered by Crown amplifiers. JBL Control Series and AE Series speakers are used throughout the public areas and are powered by a variety of Powersoft amplifiers.
Idibri’s Battershell credited Powersoft’s Mezzo, in particular, for use in the arena’s suites, behind the televisions. “We used them to provide an audio input for local TV audio, amplification for local speakers and IP audio connection to the bowl audio feeds,” he notes. “Powersoft heard our design requirements and delivered exactly what we needed.”
Dave Curry, vice-president of technology for Climate Pledge Arena, also credited the audio setup in the suites. “The feedback from guests has been very positive.”
- Capacity: 17,200 (Concerts), 18,100 (Basketball)
System Features
- JBL VTX-A12
- JBL VTX-A8
- Crown amplifiers
- JBL Control Series
- JBL AE Series
