The Sacramento Kings set out to build the world’s most sustainable athletic venue, and they were successful. The new Golden 1 Center is the world’s first LEED Platinum certified indoor sports arena, setting a new standard for energy efficiency and water conservation.
LiveWall, the green wall subsidiary of Hortech, Inc., Spring Lake, Michigan, created a green wall system for the Kings, totaling 4,800 square feet that can be seen by fans as they enter the arena.
AECOM chose the LiveWall system specifically for its “tried and true system with well-engineered components that could scale up,” and for its design that provides “adequate soil depth and volume to protect the plants and keep the walls from drying out in the heat of summer.”
The Sacramento office of landscape services company BrightView installed the green walls. The installation includes 2,700 LiveWall planter modules attached to a unique aluminum rail and mounting track system, which is attached to the structural wall and secures the planters and integrated irrigation components.
Florasource Ltd. (San Clemente, CA), an independent horticulture supply company and LiveWall distributor, provided 5,400 plants in LiveWall’s planter inserts so that the plants would be hearty and ready for installation into the modular planters in September 2016. AECOM and Florasource selected 18 different types of plants, with all flowering plants bloom in shades of purple, the Kings’ signature color.
For a natural look, they chose plant species that are native to the area, or that have similar aesthetic qualities. To minimize supplemental irrigation requirements, all the plants are appropriate for the climate. Varied plant mixes for individual green wall sections account for differences in sun and shade around the arena. Many of the selected species will grow large enough to cover much of the green wall components.
