NFL’s New SoFi Stadium Opens, Clad in Zahner Custom Metal Panels

The newest NFL super stadium—SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California—hosted its first game on September 13, 2020 where the LA Rams defeated the Dallas Cowboys in a 20-17 win.

Designed by HKS, the 70,000-seat stadium also has a 6,000-seat venue and a 2.5-acre plaza, all of which are covered by a canopy of translucent ETFE membrane and 34,789 perforated anodized aluminum panels manufactured by Zahner.

With 3.1 million square feet of space covered by the canopy, it is now one of the world’s largest indoor-outdoor venues.

Mark Williams, principal in charge for the project and business development director for sports at HKS, said in a recent Forbes.com feature that replicating the Southern California indoor-outdoor design philosophy was the driving idea, but it had never been done on this scale before.

Zahner provided Design Assist support to HKS designers early in the project to preserve and refine design intent, ensure constructibility, and evaluate budget estimates. Zahner designers, engineers, and fabrication specialists worked with HKS designers on aluminum panel specifications, anodization, custom colors, perforations, and attachment points to create the glistening facade.

Crown Corr, an industry-leading subcontractor for sports facilities, was Zahner’s custom metal panel installation partner for the project.

The NFL posted a short video on their Twitter account highlighting SoFi Stadium and its industry-leading design:

Congratulations to the key stakeholders that made this project a success including Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, HKS, Crown Corr, Turner Construction, AECOM Hunt, Los Angeles Chargers, Los Angeles Rams and all of our subcontracting partners.