2018 1100 Oak Drive SE Washington, D.C.

, USA 01

DC Entertainment and
Sports Arena

Location
Washington, D.C., USA

Wall Products
Optimo

Finishes
Colonial Red
Redwood
Sandstone
Bone White
Audubon Russet
2018 1100 Oak Drive SE Washington, D.C., USA 02

Overview
The Entertainment and Sports Arena (ESA) in
Washington, D.C. opened in September and
Wall Products
serves as the practice facility for the NBA’s Optimo
Washington Wizards and the home arena for
the WNBA’s Washington Mystics and the NBA
G League’s Capital City Go-Go. It also hosts
concerts, boxing and other events.
2018 1100 Oak Drive SE Washington, D.C., USA 03

Goals for the Project

Blending in the Arena
One goal of Events DC, the designer and builder
of the project, was to blend the new arena into Speed
D.C.’s historic St. Elizabeths East neighborhood.
Kingspan worked with the architects to come up
with just the right exterior colors to meet this
goal – especially the shades of red. After
experimenting with dozens of colors, the teams
agreed on Colonial Red, Redwood, Sandstone
and Bone White (all Kingspan standard colors)
and Audubon Russet, a custom color from
Valspar. The result is that the new arena that
looks right at home in a neighborhood full of
buildings that date back to the 1930’s.

Keeping Costs Low

Initially, the plan called for terracotta panels to
tie the new facility in with the brick buildings in
the neighborhood. But after seeing the cost of
using terracotta, the architects changed the
design to utilize insulated metal panels. That
change saved an estimated $100,000 -
$200,000. The designers turned to Kingspan to
supply the metal panels and chose Kingspan’s
Optimo™ wall panel system. The Optimo panels
deliver a clean, smooth modern solution that can
be customized to the needs of any project,
especially in commercial and industrial settings.
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Specifications While Building

Hiding Visible Fasteners
A specification on this project was that there Aesthetics
Aesthetics
were to be no exposed fasteners – this was no
small task, as the arena has more than 53,000
square feet of metal panels. Kingspan met the
challenge by engineering a concealed fastener
solution that delivers a smooth, flat appearance
without the need for exposed trim at the base,
corners or openings. The result is an extremely
clean, modern look.

Using Panels of Different Widths

Kingspan also worked closely with the design
team to incorporate different panel widths on
the project, utilizing 24”, 30”, 36” and 40”
panels – the wider panels provide a cost-savings
and allow for faster installation. The majority of
the panels are 2” thick, with a small portion
being 3” thick.
Energy
2018 1100 Oak Drive SE Washington, D.C., USA 05

Single Component System

High R-Value
Kingspan Optimo panels provide a high
R-Value for a high level of energy Energy
efficiency, especially important in D.C.’s
cold winters and hot summers. The
single component system also allows for
a faster build, reducing on-site
installation time by up to 50 percent
compared to traditional site-assembled
systems, and eliminates the need for
multiple trades.
Contact

For more information on

the products used in this
project, please email

Info.NA@kingspanpanels.com