17-07-2025
A 360-degree skyline view: Arena designs reveal a glass encased downtown jewel
The future home for the Oklahoma City Thunder — a $1 billion arena approved in December 2023 by voters — will feature extensive landscaping to blend in with the Myriad Botanical Gardens and a 360-degree glass curtain wall that will offer visitors sweeping panoramic skyline views from all interior concourses.
Conceptual renderings displayed Wednesday by architect David Manica at the 2025 State of the City address were unveiled to a sold-out crowd gathered at the convention center that got its first glimpse of a landmark that will dramatically alter the downtown skyline.
Unlike the current Paycom Center, opened in 2002 without an anchor tenant, the new arena is designed to be an NBA venue with upper seating sections to be located closer to the floor action.
The renderings shown at the July 16 State of the City show the arena's west-facing main entrance, aligned with the Myriad Gardens, also will include a long-envisioned Thunder Alley that will provide a fan activation zone designed within the arena's footprint.
An elevated main entrance, situated on a grand podium, creates an inspiring sense of arrival and opens up to the main concourse, fostering a welcoming atmosphere.
The interior concept prioritizes basketball, with optimized sight lines and a seating design that fosters an energetic, loud and intimate experience.
Demolition is underway at the future arena site, which for 50 years was the city's convention center and last home to Prairie Surf Studios.
The future arena site, a super-block between E.K. Gaylord Boulevard and Sheridan, Reno and Robinson avenues, is expected to be cleared later this year with construction set to start in 2026. An opening for the new arena is scheduled for the start of the Oklahoma City Thunder's 2028-29 season.
Design work is being done by Kansas-based Manica Architecture and Atlanta-based TVS, the same team that drew up plans for San Francisco's Chase Center and Las Vegas' Allegiant Stadium.
Oklahoma contractor Flintco, which built Oklahoma City's new convention center, Devon Tower and the state Capitol dome, is teamed up on the arena project with Mortenson Construction, a Minneapolis contractor that built two of the country's three newest NBA arenas.
This is a developing story.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC new arena design unveiled during State of the City: See the plans
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