BROOKLYN, NY — The Brooklyn Nets, known for years as the New Jersey Nets, now have a home at Barclays Center here, in a facility designed to anchor the $4.9 billion Atlantic Yards complex. Turner Construction, which opted for a Nordstrom-Baxter Associates (NBA) portable court lighting system, relied upon Atlantic Rigging Systems for a big assist with the lighting system’s installation.
More details from Atlanta Rigging Systems (ARS) (www.atlantarigging.com):
BROOKLYN, NY – The new state-of-the-art Barclays Center in the heart of Brooklyn, NY, is home to the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets. It also hosts sporting events, ice shows and concerts, making it one of the newest, and busiest venues in the country. During design and construction it was determined to install the new Nordstrom-Baxter Associates (NBA) portable court lighting system. This type of system is currently in use at only one other venue in the U.S.
“The NETS approached us because they wanted the exact same tungsten TV lighting design (by Randy Nordstrom) used for all the NBA All-Star Games as well as desiring the portability of the custom Baxx-Truss folding truss system that I developed previously for the L.A. Lakers/Staples Center and the NBA’s future use,” said Rob Baxter of Nordstrom-Baxter Associates.
“The benefits of this system over the traditional metal-halide systems are significant. These include far better HDTV resolution, Hi-Speed film compatibility, ability to install and remove in under three hours, maximum controllability for entertainment, and increased audience lighting control, to name a few.”
Turner Construction, in their capacity as owners’ representatives, selected Atlanta Rigging Systems (ARS) to provide all engineering, manufacturing and installation of the new system.
“ARS understood their scope of work at Barclays Center completely, with a thorough logistics plan that met the demanding schedule, also maintained an absolute priority of safety, and that fully accommodated all of the owner’s operational needs,” said Chuck Baldwin with Turner Construction. “ARS’ professional approach and conduct was always equal to all of many various external challenges that surfaced. Not only do I recommend ARS, I look forward to working with them again.”
The rigging portion of the system consisted of 10 separate lighting trusses ranging in length from 40 feet to 120 feet. There were four trusses arranged over the court and six over the house. Each truss also had an access solution so that technicians can easily get to them, as well as traverse along them, while they are in the air.
The Entertainment Division at McLaren Engineering developed the performance specification for the project as well as provided on-site support throughout the installation. As engineer of record, McLaren and the rest of the team developed a system design, which included custom beam clamps, rigging hardware, chain hoists, control system, fall protection requirements and truss access platforms. Fifty CM D8+ chain hoists were used to suspend the entire lighting system making this one of the largest D8+ installs in the country. One-ton hoists were used on all of the trusses and half-tons were used for cable management along with ARS’s proprietary chain sliders.
Once again ARS called on its installation partners Motion Labs for the control portion of the job and Athletic and Performance Rigging for the custom brackets. One of the client’s requirements was that the controllers would “easily move around the arena’s catwalk and maintain a constant line of sight with the trusses.” The MLI 8-channel portable chain hoist controllers met the requirement.
“Our scope also included developing a permanent access solution to each truss depending on the conditions at each location,” said David Piccola, ARS installations sales manager. “The four corner audience trusses are covered with wire rope ladders while the courtside trusses and remaining audience trusses are accessed by permanently installed Skyjack swing stages. Both access methods are covered with SRL’s for vertical fall protection and the trusses themselves are covered with Horizontal Lifelines. This way workers are covered 100 percent of the time once they leave the catwalk.”
ARS chose Clark/Reder Engineering to work with McLaren Engineering to develop shop drawings. “Coordination on implementing a system in a building like Barclays Center was an obvious challenge,” said Jeffrey Reder, P.E. of Clark/Reder Engineering. “ARS was our eyes and ears in the field and communicated any and all coordination items to Clark-Reder during construction to make sure the as-built product was safe and implemented properly.”
Addressing the concerns of all interested parties on a job this size can sometimes be tricky business, but that was not the case on this project. “ARS was fortunate, not only to have been selected as the rigging vendor but to also have the opportunity, to work with so many industry professionals,” said Dave Gittens, VP of Atlanta Rigging Systems. “It was a great experience for us.”
