On Dec. 5, Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) has revealed plans for a new sports and entertainment center that will sit atop the current Travis County Exposition Center in Austin, Texas. Dubbed "East Austin District" and commissioned by Austin, Texas–based company Austin Sports & Entertainment in partnership with the nonprofit Rodeo Austin, the new 1.3-million-square-foot project features wood-paneled interiors and consists of a 40,000-seat soccer and rugby stadium; a 15,000-seat multi-purpose arena that will serve as the new venue for the annual Rodeo Austin event; multipurpose facilities; youth amenities; courtyards; and a variety of retail, office, commercial, and hospitality structures. Inspired by Thomas Jefferson's grid, each building is organized on a checkerboard-patterned plan and features a rooftop covered in red solar panels. According to the firm's press release, the panels could generate enough energy to power the entire complex, and distribute electricity to East Austin in the future. "If the project breaks ground in 2018, it could be completed by 2021," Boston-based sports and media entrepreneur Andy Nestor told local newspaper Austin American–Statesman in a recent interview.
“Like a collective campus rather than a monolithic stadium the East Austin District unifies all the elements of Rodeo and Soccer into a village of courtyards and canopies," said BIG's founding partner Bjarke Ingels in the same release. "Part architecture, part urbanism, part landscape—the East Austin District is the architectural manifestation of collective intimacy—a complex capable of making tens of thousands of fans come together and enjoy the best Austin has to offer inside and between its buildings."
