Time magazine features it in their 2025 list of The World’s Greatest Places to Visit and declares the Inglewood, Calif., destination “has set the bar for the nation’s stadiums, starting with its sustainability initiatives.”
Today the $1.8 billion, 18,000-seat Intuit Dome, home of the NBA Los Angeles Clippers, is a masterclass in arena design, engineering, and sustainability. Its LEED BD+C Platinum v4/4.1 certification is earned for its solar-fed, all-electric power system, skimpy potable water use, and a panoply of best practice distinctions.
Take concrete, for example. The Intuit Dome project team—architect AECOM, general contractor AECOMHunt/Turner Joint Venture, and structural engineer Walter P Moore—devised a structural typology reliant on concrete for the foundations, perimeter retaining walls, and slabs for the Event, Club, and Plaza levels.
The challenge: how to limit embodied carbon across 84,200 cubic yards of concrete (830 pours). Project planning by the Moore team included Whole Building Life Cycle Assessment (WBLCA) for the facility’s core and shell. The WBLCA highlighted the impact and opportunities ready mix concrete had on building emissions, as well as how rapidly evolving concrete innovations could reduce embodied carbon impact. The process developed with a multi-step progression:
Three-Part Low-Carbon Solution
- Every effort was made to wrest every ounce of carbon out of the concrete. That included leveraging Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) to quantify embodied carbon for the concrete mixes and the resulting savings of various strategies, versus the more typical approach of prescribing a general mitigation strategy or technology.
- Product- and facility-specific EPDs were issued by ready mix supplier Catalina Pacific (a CalPortland Company) and shared with concrete contractor Largo Concrete and structural engineer Walter P Moore.
- The product-specific EPDs utilized an ASTM C595 blended cement, ADVANCEMENT 1L-HS, which CalPortland used to optimize the mix and cement production efficiency. In addition to this, carbon reduction was achieved without sacrificing production performance through the use of:
- High performance Orca aggregates (sourced from the Orca Quarry on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada)
- Optimized aggregate grading
- Fly ash as a supplementary cementitious material
These strategies resulted in a reduction of cementitious content and measurable carbon savings:
- 20% REDUCTION in embodied carbon emissions compared to NRMCA (National Ready Mixed Concrete Association) Pacific Southwest benchmarks
- 50% REDUCTION in the embodied carbon thresholds mandated by the California Green Building Code (CalGreen)
- WINNER 2025 Concrete Innovations Award by the NRMCA for cutting-edge innovation and leadership
Today the Intuit Dome is a sensory wonderland for basketball fans and concert goers alike, elevating the fan experience to new heights, from a video game controller at each seat to checkout-free concessions stands (thanks to facial recognition and a mobile app … no scanning or cashier required).
Underpinning it all is an extraordinary commitment to the environment, from the facility’s concrete foundations right on up to the high-tech roof. Fans can take comfort in the fact this eye-popping venue plays nice with the environment in ways no other NBA arena can.
As you weigh design choices, it pays to reflect on the sustainability vision of the Intuit Dome. Consider it a template for environmental best practice, picking and choosing strategies that may be appropriate for your next project. A good place to start? The proven performance of low-carbon concrete.
Learn more about how low-carbon concrete can help you achieve greater sustainability on your next project.
