Moody Center

Austin, Texas

Austin continues to experience explosive growth and Spring 2022 did not disappoint as the city welcomed its new, 530,000 SF, world-class entertainment and sports arena – the Moody Center. Located on the University of Texas campus in downtown, this state-of-the-art 15,000-seat venue will host Longhorn basketball and the top concert tours in the country.

According to the project team, the overall goal was to keep the $375 million arena authentic to Austin. “The vision for the Moody Center was to avoid the closed-in nature of the previous arena and create something more organic for the communities the arena will serve”, according to Jonathan Emmett, Gensler’s global sports leader. The result? A stunning, yet highly complex, project built into a hillside that provides 360 degrees of glass walls allowing for those inside the building to see out and those outside to see in.

Surrounding the entire building is a 70,000 SF, Prodema wood veneered, HPL system that KSC fabricated and installed. Imported from Spain, the product’s natural beauty and proven durability are suitable for both indoor and outdoor applications. This allowed for a consistent design element as it functions as a canopy, indoor ceiling with soft curves, and wall surface throughout the structure. KSC worked with both @Gensler and @AECOM Hunt on this large-scale project that is sure to be a wow-factor for the foreseeable future.

Our work on the Moody Center was selected as a 2022 TEXO Award winner in the specialty contractor exteriors category in our region and as a 2023 Judges’ Design Award recipient from Metal Architecture. In addition, this project was featured in Metal Architecture. Click here to read the full article.