A new design for the 38,885-sq-ft Plaza at the Barclays Center that will serve as the primary entryway to the arena at Atlantic Yards has been released. The plaza will be located at the intersection of Flatbush and Atlantic Avenues and will include a new transit entrance with a green roof, 74% of open space for community events and 26% landscaping and seating.

“The Plaza at the Barclays Center will quickly become one of Brooklyn’s great public spaces,” said Bruce Ratner, Chairman and CEO of Forest City Ratner Companies.” “It will be an iconic part of the larger Brooklyn landscape.”

The Plaza is being sponsored by ADT, one of the founding partners of the Barclays Center and was designed by ShoP Architects of New York, who conducted research of public space designs around the world and took different uses of the plaza into consideration while incorporating security and safety issues into the design as well weight load restrictions.

“It is the diversity of movement and use that gives a public space feel,” said SHoP’s Gregg Pasquarelli. “We wanted to capture movement in our design features and also enhance that movement and the experience of the space by using materials that seem natural to the different parts of the plaza,” added Pasquarelli who believes that the design also offers possibilities once the office building, B1 and its open urban room are constructed in the future.

The architects incorporated in-ground lighting and three different types of pavement in the design including sidewalk space, a mix of concrete pavements, and a concrete carpet that will run from the transit entrance to the arena. A new 117 ft by 56 ft oculus will also be added that will extend over a 5,660 sq ft section of the plaza containing a state-of-the-art display screen.

“We of course want the Plaza to function as a gateway to the Barclays Center,” said Ratner. “But it was also designed much like a park so it can be programmed for community events and diverse activities, such as a greenmarket and holiday fairs.”

Work on the below grade and site preparation of the Transit Entrance has begun with overall construction of the plaza scheduled for completion in the second quarter of 2012, in time for the opening of the arena, the new home of the NBA's New Jersey Nets. A construction manager has not yet been chosen for the project and the team is still working on the final projected cost.