Smoothie King Center
The Smoothie King Center (formerly the New Orleans Arena) seats up to 19,000 persons for live concerts and basketball games and is the home of the NBA New Orleans Pelicans.
Moses Engineers was part of the original design team responsible for the facility’s central plant connections, fire alarm and fire protection systems. Due to budgeting constraints, Moses Engineers devised a shared plant system with the neighboring Superdome through a bridge connecting the two sports venues. Our improvisation allowed the Superdome’s 9,000 ton cooling plant to also provide cooling and heating for the Arena.
In 2014, Moses Engineers provided full mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) design services for Phase II of Smoothie King Center’s expansion. The expansion includes new box offices with additional service lanes, a 20,000 sq. ft. expansion of the lobby, an expanded and renovated team store, Main Concourse level bar with balcony, and specialized exterior lighting and display boards.
We utilized BIM techniques with REVIT software for coordination in conjunction with extensive field investigation. This process reused and reconfigured existing infrastructure to help reduce mechanical construction costs. We applied a design-assist contractor to manage costs throughout the design process.