Climate Pledge Arena - Digital Signage

Climate Pledge Arena is the result of a bold undertaking many believed would never materialize. When the City of Seattle set out to reimagine and redevelop the historic landmark originally built for the 1962 World’s Fair, Populous flipped the traditional arena model on its head to create a first-of-its-kind arena.

Climate Pledge Arena is the region’s newest arena — an entirely new venue built under an existing roof — that revitalizes a historic landmark and cultivates the ultimate experience for fans of the NHL’s Seattle Kraken, WNBA’s Seattle Storm, concerts and other events. With Amazon as the arena’s naming rights partner, Populous transformed its sustainable design approach to meet The Climate Pledge, a global initiative that commits signatories to net zero carbon across their businesses by 2040. Climate Pledge Arena is poised to become the world’s first arena to earn a net zero carbon certification from the International Living Future Institute.

Digital signage plays an imperative role in the journey to and through Climate Pledge Arena. The intent is to give guests an end-to-end immersive experience.

The digital signage experience begins when you first arrive on Seattle Center’s campus and continues through every point along your journey. Upon approaching, the campus signage around the landmark premises gives partners extended visibility and promotes events and resident organizations across campus or builds excitement for the bucket list event a visitor is about to witness, reflecting the energy of the concert or game with immersive digital content.

A two-story LED tower and LED ceiling greets you at the front door – at times the ceiling is a night sky, other days a whale swims overhead. The LED wraps all surfaces of this two-story space to truly transform the experience for each event, and provides ample opportunity for sponsorship activation, as well.

A key component of the digital journey is one of Climate Pledge Arena’s iconic areas: The Living Wall. An immersive and social media friendly activation that spans 251’ feet of concourse at Climate Pledge Arena, the design was inspired by the vision and goal of The Climate Pledge brand: restoring equality between humanity, technology and nature. With a combination of 28 species of plants, interwoven LED activations, and an unforgettable engagement with nature in its unexpected location, it is situated two levels below ground on an arena concourse.

The LED video integration creates flexibility as The Climate Pledge brand evolves into the future, provides a portal into other natural places around the world, and champions the role technology can play in nature’s preservation. Amazon’s goal was to evoke feelings of optimism and hope and communicate the brand purpose through “feeling” rather than “telling.” With Amazon as the arena’s naming rights partner, Populous transformed its sustainable design approach to meet The Climate Pledge, a global initiative that commits signatories to net zero carbon across their businesses by 2040. Many of the sustainable features of the building are behind the scenes, but The Living Wall inspires guests and creates a sense of optimism, amplifying the story of sustainability within the venue for all guests to experience boldly.

The immersive digital experience continues even as the Kraken takes the ice under the first dual hung scoreboards in the NHL. Behind this new design lies a thorough analysis of on-ice and on-court action for hockey and basketball, spectator and athlete sightlines, and flexibility for shows and concerts. The result is a pair of distinctly-shaped video displays that place digital content in an ideal location for spectators, improving the atmosphere and connection between fans on opposite sides of the seating bowl.