Gregg Pasquarelli, principal architect of Barclays Center, spoke to students at his alma mater, the Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, earlier this month. In his lecture, Pasquarelli provides the most detailed discussion of how the design evolved from when his firm, SHoP Architects, were first hired in 2008 through the design of the three apartment towers that will surround the arena.
Starting at 34:21 into the video, Pasquarelli of SHoP Architects, talks for a half hour about how Bruce Ratner first approached him; how the process was "wild and scary" and almost failed; how his firm used the "Brooklyn night" as their design principle; the rationale behind the oculus and even why certain panels on the exterior of the arena have a different hue. He describes Jay-Z's role in the design of the interior spaces and calls the Nets minority owner "a very kind man." And he chronicles how the job turned a Knicks fan into a Nets fan.
Among the images shown for the first time are Pasquarelli's initial hand sketch (at 39:21) and first rendering (at 41:36) completed three days later! He also shows two quotes from NBA players on the design, one from Trevor Ariza calling it "dope" and this one, from Carmelo Anthony: "If they had Barclays open when I was a free agent, I might have become a Net instead of a Knick."