Hundreds of thousands of plants "will be moved to the top of Barclays Center starting this week, the final stage in a plan to complete the largest green roof ever put on a sports arena in the U.S.," according to Emily Nonko of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. The plants will "cut down on noise from Barclays events and improve views for residents of apartment buildings that developer Forest City Ratner Cos. is planning for the area." Planners said that the 135,000-square-foot green project will be a "big improvement over the relatively bare roof that is there now, adorned only by a Barclays logo." There "will be months when the entire roof will be abloom with yellow, pink and red flowers," and because half of the plants are evergreens, the roof will "continue to grow in red and brown tones through winter." But the green-roof construction "hasn’t been without problems." Late last year, the building of the superstructure for the greenery "caused a leak in the roof, which at one point caused a 30-minute delay" during a Heat-Nets game. In February, a 52-year-old ironworker "was killed on the site after he was crushed by a steel beam that rolled off a construction truck." Architect Frank Gehry's original design for the arena "included a green roof with a running track circling the periphery," but that plan "was downsized during the recession." Forest Ratner Exec VP and Dir of Construction & Design Development Bob Sanna said that the company "began exploring design concepts for the green roof the first winter" after the arena opened (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 4/28).
