Intuit Dome - Los Angeles Clippers

The Intuit Dome is a groundbreaking and audaciously ambitious new professional arena in Inglewood, CA. As the new home for the Los Angeles Clippers, it aims to be the first climate-positive arena and achieve LEED Platinum certification, pushing the boundaries of sustainable design. Henderson Engineers played a key role in bringing this vision to life through innovative mechanical and fire protection design solutions that prioritize sustainability goals.

As an all-electric building, the Intuit Dome used several energy-saving strategies. First, the arena's central utility plant was built off-site in seven modules and assembled quickly to accelerate the startup process. This plant runs completely on electricity, replacing fossil fuels for heating, hot water, and cooking, which greatly reduces greenhouse gas emissions. It also uses recycled water from the city’s purple-pipe system to cool the building, helping to conserve water in the drought-prone Southern California climate. A combination of heat recovery chillers, air source heat pumps, and high efficiency water cooled chillers provide all of the chilled and heated water needs for building conditioning.

A key feature of Henderson’s design is the under-seat ventilation in the seating bowl, which delivers air at higher temperatures than traditional systems, making the system more efficient and energy saving. The seating bowl, locker rooms, and player areas are supplied with 100% outside air, improving indoor air quality and optimizing energy use by taking advantage of the temperate climate.

Beyond technical innovations, the project represents a new model for partnership and project execution. Henderson worked in close coordination with a diverse array of partners and navigated tight timelines in a fast-track construction process. The team’s approach included separating large scopes of work to engage local and XBE partners, with Henderson providing project management and quality assurance workflows to ensure the success of this revolutionary facility.

Upon its completion in 2024, the Intuit Dome set a new standard for what is possible in an indoor sports venue, combining cutting-edge engineering, environmental stewardship, and a commitment to community collaboration.