The arrival of the Nets in Brooklyn in 2012 was heralded as the borough’s first major sports team since the Brooklyn Dodgers abandoned the borough for the West Coast in 1957 (breaking Brooklyn’s collective heart) to become the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Barclays Center is – think Madison Square Garden in Brooklyn – a huge venue for entertainment and sport events, near a major transportation hub. That’s Barclays Center which opened in September 2012 as the new home to the Brooklyn Nets, the NBA basketball team formerly known as the New Jersey Nets. With the Center’s black seats, dark terrazzo floors, an open space entryway that soars 60 feet, a sunken court 28 feet below street level, and sensual curves that mimic the shape of the giant oculus outside – Barclays Center isn’t just the hottest ticket in town, it’s the hottest newly designed space in the city. Some say it’s the best-designed arena in the country.

Filled with private lounges, wide public concourses, seven retail spaces, and a weathered steel façade that intrigues passers-by enough to come up and touch it, Barclays Center is as smooth an addition to a cityscape as they come. Designed by SHoP Architects, Barclays Center is being herladed as the country’s top new athletic structure. Inside is as intriguing as outside. The Nets basketball campus – such as the locker room and practice area – were handled by AECOM, one of the world’s top designers of athletic facilities. The oculus is the defining arrival moment for the Barclays Center. It makes Brooklynites beam with pride. Everyone else just goes, “Whoa.”

Made of weathered steel, the same material as the arena’s exterior, it stretches 80 feet out but has metal supports stretching 120 feet inside the arena. Over 12,000 metal pieces hold the oculus in place, and a state-of-the-art digital video screen inside the structure gives it a sci-fi feel. The public concourse is one area where Barclays outshines all others. The space is wide open. The terrazzo marble floors feel like being in an upscale condominium. The entire hallway curves as you walk by local Brooklyn food vendors. Slim LED lights in the ceiling reflect off the floor. Windows stand right up against the street.

Fan Author: Chris Martin