Story at a glance:
- HLW, with Foster + Partners, designed the PGA TOUR Studios to provide a state of the art, technology-forward broadcast facility for the golf association.
- Despite the high energy demands and environmental controls necessitated by broadcast, the project achieved LEED Silver.
- The integration of IP-based broadcast technology allows for flexibility and future-proofing, so the space evolves with technologies to come.
As the PGA TOUR renovated its headquarters in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, the team dreamed of a dedicated, ultra high-tech space to house its internal content operations.
With more than 50 media channels, including PGA TOUR LIVE on ESPN+ and PGA TOUR Champions, the TOUR required a unique space capable of meeting production needs while also promoting employee wellness and reflecting the style of the nearby headquarters.
Design firm HLW joined Foster + Partners, the architect leading the headquarters renovation, to design the LEED Silver PGA TOUR Studios at the PGA’s campus near the famous hole 17 of TPC Sawgrass.
State-of-the-Art
“This project has been so optimized in every single aspect, structural, mechanical, static, operational, that the amount of energy used to manufacture every single material that went into the project is actually way below the baseline,” says Katia Lucuy, associate and sustainability lead at Beyond, the sustainability consultancy arm of HLW. Photo by Nigel Young, courtesy of HLW
From the moment HLW began discussing the project with the PGA TOUR in 2017, the mission was to design a true state-of-the-art broadcast facility that would inspire occupants as well as the entire sports media industry.
“They had a very small broadcast facility in St. Augustine, but they were imagining a huge increase in its scale and the capabilities. They wanted to better leverage the creative opportunities in putting golf on TV,” says Jeremiah Hancock, an associate principal at HLW and project manager for the PGA TOUR Studios.
The design team planned three stories of production facilities and workspaces. Eight dedicated production rooms, eight audio control rooms, and seven LED-outfitted studios occupy about 64% of the final program, while workstations and meeting rooms designed for comfort and productivity make up around 25%. The production facilities rely on vertical adjacencies between spaces to encourage collaboration, linked by stairways full of natural light.
In the main studio a showstopping—or show-starting?—virtual set and main production room include a 270-degree LED display for immersive storytelling and virtual production. The main lobby and staircase features a custom branded installation by the PGA graphics team and links materially to the exterior and the main headquarters to create a cohesive campus.
LEED-ing the Industry
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- Photo by Nigel Young, courtesy of HLW
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- Photo by Nigel Young, courtesy of HLW
LEED helped guide the project to meet tough sustainability standards, especially considering how much energy a broadcast facility uses. “We worked from day one to identify opportunities and to find reductions in every single thing that we could—energy, water, building footprint,” says Katia Lucuy, associate and sustainability lead at Beyond, the sustainability consultancy arm of HLW.
For example, the team could find no waste treatment facility in the area compliant with the LEED requirements needed to handle construction waste, so they made the supply chain and construction waste as lean as possible. “We ended up achieving a magnificent result: around 12 pounds per square feet of constructed area,” Lucuy says.
Rainwater harvesting is another sustainable highlight. Four artificial ponds onsite collect every drop of rainfall, even in a worst-case-scenario storm surge. The water permeates engineered soil to enter the underground system without additional energy use and is used for landscape irrigation.
Adapting LEED to the needs of a 24/7 broadcast facility was no easy task, and it also had to happen on a quick timeline to get on air as soon as possible. Passive strategies in the architectural envelope, daylighting strategies to minimize solar heat gain and glare, high-efficiency HVAC systems, and low-toxicity, low-impact materials were designed and procured on tight deadlines.
The effort paid off. “During the process we modeled the project and ran a life cycle analysis to measure all the energy used and the carbon emissions associated with it,” Lucuy says. The result was around 410 kilograms of CO2 per square foot.
“When the product was 90% real, we realized we were exceeding our initial goals by a lot, and it was possible to go to the next level: LEED Silver,” Lucuy says.
Future-Proofing Broadcast
Biophilic design, reflecting the beauty of nature that golf gets to enjoy, promotes sustainability and well being at the PGA TOUR Studios project. Photo by Nigel Young, courtesy of HLW
A crucial design cornerstone of the Studios is the IP-based broadcast technology, which allows for more flexibility than its predecessor did, with functionally specific, spatially restrictive equipment and cabling. The IP-based systems invite new approaches to broadcasting, encouraging innovations like the Covid-era boost in remote production or the integration of audience engagement via social media.
“With the opportunity to start with a clean slate the PGA leveraged cutting-edge technology to enhance the broadcast experience,” Hancock says. He calls out the transmission rooms—broadcast transmission, digital streaming transmission, and social media monitoring—as particularly innovative. Because they were fully integrated in the broadcast operations from day one, the PGA TOUR can better engage the audience in storytelling and in transmission monitoring, with operators troubleshooting streaming issues and checking social media feeds for audience feedback. To support these activities, neutral tone finishes and color-controllable lighting behind monitor walls ease viewing for longer durations.
Wellness
Photo by Nigel Young, courtesy of HLW
Neutral colors and color-controllable lighting help employee’s circadian rhythms and contribute to occupant wellness. Active design principles drive movement and collaboration across the PGA campus, with walking paths and connection to the golf course offering ways to get outside. Conscious coworking spaces and stairwells offer ample natural light outside of the broadcast studios, and an onsite fitness center and healthy food options encourage employee health.
“Those little elements affect wellness in ways we can’t even measure,” Lucuy says. Features like the canopied roof and sunscreening both help with occupant wellness and earn the project a few extra LEED points.
The Legacy
Outside the new PGA TOUR Studios in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. Photo by Nigel Young, courtesy of HLW
The biophilic elements connecting the building to nature also tie back to the home of the PGA TOUR: TPC Sawgrass, host of THE PLAYERS Championship. “The building’s almost on a golf course, so it’s just as much that it fits with its context as relating to golf,” Lucuy says.
The most obvious expression of the PGA’s legacy in the Studios is the custom “Swingman” sculpture treatment on the staircase, completed in collaboration with the PGA TOUR’s graphics and content teams. The building also happens to house the world’s largest golf content library, for ample inspiration.
In what Hancock calls a “happy accident,” golf echoes through the building even unintentionally; the Studios wound up with 18 main corridors that have since been identified as the 18 holes of a golf course.
