Detroit-based architecture and design firm ROSSETTI has announced that construction on the Grandstand stadium in New York’s Billie Jean King National Tennis Center is nearly complete. Located on the 46-acre campus in Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens, the 125,000-square-foot tennis arena will house 8,215 seats, almost 2,000 more than the campus’ Louis Armstrong Stadium. The Grandstand stadium will open in time for the 2016 US Open as the lead initiative in the United States Tennis Association’s (USTA) “Sports Spectacle Vision Plan.”
Situated at the tree-shaded southwest corner of the campus, the new stadium is anticipated to reorient pedestrian traffic from the congested northeast portion. The design includes a façade made from nearly 500 Teflon-coated fiberglass membrane panels—a material that conveys both opaque and translucent qualities, offering glimpses in and out of the arena.
The stadium will draw in visitors from multiple surrounding staircases. An upper walkway offers views of five tournament courts, a newly designed alleé, and the historic World’s Fair Unisphere. The design provides continuous shelter for visitors around the perimeter thanks to a translucent canopy. The stadium is also equipped with a lower bowl recessed into the earth in order to maximize scalability, and new concessions as well as a picnic area and plazas will offer peaceful enclaves amidst the bustling atmosphere.
ROSSETTI, which previously designed the campus’ Arthur Ashe Stadium, was tapped in 2010 to assist in revamping the campus as part of the USTA’s 10-year, $550 million plan. The entire redesign is expected to be completed by 2018.
