Phoenix Suns 5G Performance Center

Phoenix, Arizona

Project Info

  • Client

    Phoenix Suns

  • Size

    52,000 SF

  • Delivery method

    CMAR

  • Role on project

    Prime Architect

  • Project Completion:

    November 2020

  • DFDG Team Members
  • Mike Schmitt

    Project Director

  • Kelvin Tong

    Project Manager, Design Phase

  • Mark Miter

    Project Architect

  • Tracy Puddy

    Sr. Interior Designer

  • Sun Shuairan

    Architectural Associate

  • Bradie Kissinger

    Architectural Associate

  • Mike Gibson

    Project Manager, Construction Phase

This one-of-a-kind, high performance training facility provides a home away from home for the Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury.

Delivered in a remarkable 18 months from inception to completion, the Phoenix Suns and Mercury now have a state-of-the-art practice facility located on 44th Street just north of Camelback Road in Phoenix. DFDG Architecture collaborated closely with Suns owner Robert Sarver from beginning to end to ensure this high-performance building nurtures the mind, body, and spirit of the high-performance athletes as they train, relax, and recover. DFDG collaborated with ZGF Architects for interior design concepts and environmental graphics.

With commanding views of iconic Camelback Mountain, this 55,812-square-foot, exclusive-use facility features:

Lower Level

  • Two side-by-side regulation NBA/WBNA basketball courts
  • Advanced sports medicine suites, with advanced treatment modalities
  • Aqua-therapy suite with hot and cold plunges, and Hydroworx 2000 Therapy Pool
  • Sorinex-equipped strength and conditioning gym
  • State-of-the-art, motion-capture equipped performance analytics/testing lab
  • Outdoor sports turf for conditioning and agility training
  • Team locker rooms with showers, sauna, and sensory deprivation (float) pod
  • Staff locker room, support offices, and laundry facilities
  • Main lobby and press room

Upper Level

  • Player’s lounge area with a nine-screen video wall
  • Recreation area with gaming suite, billiards, ping-pong, card tables, golf/sports simulator, and barbershop
  • Commercial display/teaching kitchen with a full-time team chef and staff
  • Dining room with a fully retractable glass wall opening onto the player balcony
  • Player balcony, with negative edge spa, dining and lounge furniture, and TV
  • Media room with interview space and green screen for player photography
  • Coaches, assistant coaches, trainer’s and owner’s offices
  • 20-seat conference room with glass wall centered on the basketball courts
  • Basketball operations office suite with 10-person conference room

Articles:

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Guiding Design Principles

Guiding themes for the design of the 5G Performance Center include:

Contemporary. A clean, contemporary architecture reflects the values of the Suns progressive organization. The building envelope is a rain-screen system, clad with ribbed metal panels, ACM (Aluminum Composite Material), and perforated metal. The careful use of color value and texture draws the building’s three distinct building forms together as a seamless and cohesive unit – as do the teams that it supports. The long, sleek lines of the building are inspired by the strength and grace of the athletes who inhabit the 5G Performance Center.

Performance. Every aspect of this facility is designed to optimize the performance of the Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury athletes, coaches, and staff. State-of-the-art playing surfaces, sports medicine suite, indoor-outdoor strength/conditioning spaces, and sports analytic systems are among the most advanced in the NBA.

Natural Light. Access to natural light throughout the building’s programmed spaces provides an uplifting and performance-enhancing quality in the athletic areas (basketball courts and strength/conditioning). While introducing natural light to the basketball courts, DFDG digitally modeled year-round daylight conditions and designed a custom louver system with blades spaced and tilted to allow maximum natural light and prohibit sunlight from striking the playing surface at any time.

Home away from home. The facility is laden with amenities, casual living spaces, fine-dining/nutrition, and recreational opportunities that provide a place for the athletes to recover, relax, and enjoy time together on and off the court.

Sustainable. Performance is not only an integral part of the building’s functional program, it is also a part of the building itself. With its long exposures and the majority of glazing oriented to the north and south, natural heat gain is minimized. The self-ventilating rain-screen system shades its continuously insulated envelope. Extensive use of louvers, perforated metal, and deep overhangs, in combination with 40% fritted glass, virtually eliminates direct sunlight from the building’s interior, while introducing optimum indirect natural light. High-efficiency VRV mechanical systems and the use of LED lighting throughout reduces the building’s ongoing energy consumption. Ample views are important to the quality of user experience, focused on nearby Camelback Mountain to the east and the Phoenix Mountains to the north.

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