The San Francisco 49ers American football side has released a raft of new details ahead of the scheduled opening of the team’s new US$1.2bn (€881m, £715m) Levi’s Stadium, including a new museum dedicated to the team.
As the project nears completion, the team has revealed details of a 20,000sq ft (1,858sq m) 49ers Museum, which will be open daily and will give fans the chance to use a pass-and-kick simulator, recall historic plays and make use of an Xbox Kinect system to mimic moves made by players and cheerleaders.
Other details include the announcement of a 13,000sq ft (1,207sq m) Team Store, a Hall of Fame and a giant exhibition screen.
Expected to be open for the start of the 2014 NFL season in July, the new venue has been designed by architects HNTB, with non-minority firm Winzler & Kelly taking care of civil design around the ground.
Turner/Devcon has undertaken work at the site for the Santa Clara Stadium Authority, while Magnusson Klemencic Associates has provided structural engineering support.
The Levi’s Stadium will cover 1.8 million sq ft (167,225sq m), seat 68,500 people and will play host to an expected 165 luxury suites and 8,500 club seats.
The site is located close to the team’s administrative offices and training facility in Santa Clara, with the venue expected to host the Super Bowl in 2016.
The project has made use of environmentally friendly design principles to suit the climate of Silicon Valley.
Specially designed features in the ground include the use of a green roof sitting on top of a suite tower on the west side of the stadium. Elsewhere, three solar bridges – connecting the main parking area to the stadium – will include hundreds of solar panels used to provide energy for the stadium.
