WSP Flack + Kurtz, the international engineering firm, has completed work as the MEP and security systems engineering firm for Barclays Center, the new multi-purpose arena in Brooklyn, N.Y., where the National Basketball Association’s Brooklyn Nets are playing this season.
“It was a pleasure working with Forest City Ratner on this incredibly fantastic project that we have been working on since 2003,” said John Bredehorst, managing director of WSP Flack + Kurtz’s New York office.
David Cooper, president of WSP Flack + Kurtz, said the assignment was “wonderful and challenging.”
“The arena was built in the heart of Brooklyn, over an infrastructure that was never designed for such a project,ˮ he explained.
“Not only was it necessary to build around the existing utilities in the ground (both the subways and a Long Island Railroad rail yard), but we had to insure that the extensive sewer and storm systems would not tax the existing infrastructure.”
Among the notable MEP features of the site engineered by WSP Flack + Kurtz are:
An efficient air handling system that provides ventilation and conditioning for up to 19,000 fans at concerts and other events.
A 2,700-ton capacity electric chiller plant that is right sized for the dynamic load profile of each event, coinciding with the time of year each event takes place.
A 100% air side economizer system that provides free cooling for most of the year, with heat recovery systems to pre-heat and pre-cool the outside air required for ventilation for the arena occupants.
A demand control ventilation system that limits the conditioning of the outside air to that amount required for the number of occupants, rather than the volume of the arena when it is not fully occupied, thereby saving energy.
WSP Flack + Kurtz was hired in 2003, initially with architect Frank Gehry and then with architects Ellerbe Becket. The structural engineer is Thornton Tomasetti, and the general contractor is Hunt Construction Group.
