Why the New Intuit Dome’s VIP Clubhouse Will Have San Vicente Bungalows Vibes (Exclusive)
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When Intuit Dome — the new Inglewood home of the Los Angeles Clippers that billionaire owner Steve Ballmer has spent upward of $2 billion constructing — opens in August, it will unveil not only a state-of-the-art sports and concert venue, but also a high-end VIP club.
The Lexus Courtside Lounge — available to those with courtside seats — is being designed by London-based interior designer Rita Konig, who was also behind the look of the Hollywood-loved private members’ club San Vicente Bungalows. Gillian Zucker, president of business operations for the Clippers, says that when looking to create the arena’s courtside experience, they were inspired by the energy of the Bungalows, which is “so L.A.-vibey, and at the same time it’s comfortable. You just feel like you’re at home, or at least a place you wish were your home.”
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The NBA team then connected with Konig, who says that in creating a windowless lounge for the Intuit Dome, she was inspired by Annabel’s, the famed London private club that started life in a basement. But as for the color palette of the upcoming space, the inspiration came from Southern California. “I have always thought that pink for me is very much Los Angeles, sort of Sunset Boulevard — which isn’t very pink but evokes pink in one’s mind — and the sunset,” says Konig. But Zucker is quick to add that it won’t be the pink of the Bungalows’ dining room: “I like to think of it as off-red, given it’s Clippers colors.”
Some design elements will evoke the style of the Bungalows, though. Look for fabric on the walls and a mix of materials including cork, velvet, wood, metal and mirrors “to make it feel layered and soft,” Konig says. The mirrors, located behind the bar, tie in with the A-list clientele that the space is expecting, with Billy Crystal, Anthony Anderson and Queen Latifah part of Clippers fandom. As the designer notes, “the people at the game are as fascinating as the game itself, so you want this reflective stuff so that you can actually see what’s around you without looking.”
And although the club is located in a huge 18,000-seat arena, “what I really wanted was to walk in and be completely transported to this cozy, intimate, warm space,” says Konig.
The lounge will feature small tables and banquettes and three entrances that lead directly to the court. It’s split into two mirror-image sides, with a demarcated central aisle for the players to run through on their way to the bench. With a capacity of roughly 400, the two sides also allow the area to be rented out for special events. On the concessions front, the all-inclusive club will feature a large bar, two pizza ovens and a collection of freshly cooked small bites.
Throughout the arena, the focus is on a no-waiting-in-line experience, reflected in everything from the restrooms — with Intuit Dome housing three times more toilets than the average arena — to food and drink, which will feature contactless payment so guests can grab an item and go.
But the venue’s technology doesn’t end there. Similar to SoFi Stadium across the street, Intuit Dome will feature a massive two-sided halo board: “A lot of people think of the board at the Cowboys’ stadium as being extraordinary, but our board is seven times the size of that, and it’s inside an arena,” Zucker says.
The board will also be used to mount automated T-shirt cannons and, using technology that can measure audio levels, shirts will be fired to areas of the arena that are cheering the loudest. “It has the ability at this stage to narrow it down to a group of about four seats, and it’s getting better and better by the day — they’ve told us that they believe that by the time the building opens, they’ll be down to a single seat, which would mean that we could actually identify the loudest person in the building and reward them,” Zucker says.
Other arena highlights include electrical outlets at each seat and a player entrance that’s been designed with fit-check photos in mind, something that fashion-forward Clippers stars like James Harden and Kawhi Leonard will surely appreciate. The Clippers even brought in photographers to consult on the design of the player entrance to make sure the angles are right for optimal arrival shots.
The venue features 66 suites, including four Courtside Cabanas steps from the floor. And, games and concerts aside — Usher is the first musical act announced, set for four shows this fall — Intuit Dome is making a play at becoming a new venue for L.A. events, with a 1,000-person lobby area, a side court that can be used for parties, graduations and proms and an outdoor plaza with a 75-foot LED screen and a Spanish Steps-style area, available for red carpets and community movie nights.
As Zucker says, the arena was built to serve three purposes: “Number one, a basketball mecca: We want it to be the greatest place to watch basketball anywhere in the world. We’ve spent a ton of time on the acoustics, really trying to make it this sweet spot for musicians. And, lastly, a community center and a place where everyone, regardless of what your event is, thinks of Intuit Dome as a place you want to host it.
This story first appeared in the Feb. 14 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
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