On Thursday, Jan. 13, 2010, the Oregon men’s basketball team will play the USC Trojans as they make their debut in the brand new Matthew Knight Arena. Named after the son of Nike Chairman Phil Knight, the arena was designed to have “the most iconic television presence possible,” designer Tinker Hatfield said. Seating 12,541 people, Knight Arena will be the new home for the Oregon Ducks basketball team, who previously played in the 1927-built McArthur Court.
The arena, which cost more $200 million to build, has “a highly unique and visible basketball floor design,” said Hatfield, Nike’s vice president for design and special projects.
When asked in an interview why he designed the floor as he did, Hatfield said it wasn’t just one thing that drove his insight, but a whole slew of ideas and inspirations that led to the construction of the aesthetically-impressive Knight Arena.
“I really … sort of boiled it down to three things. I really wanted to pay tribute to Matthew Knight himself, and then the Kilkenny family and lastly, but maybe not leastly, I wanted to pay tribute to the Pacific Northwest and the ‘Tall Firs,’ the original basketball team that won a national championship for the University of Oregon in 1939.”
At first sight, “Kilkenny Floor,” named after Oregon’s former athletic director Pat Kilkenny, seems to be a compilation of different shades of wood with green writing on it. However from an aerial view, the designs on the floor become crystal clear. The floor is deigned to look like a silhouette of fir trees, cascading towards the center of the floor. The lighter and darker shades of brown add dimension and visual layers to the court, creating a visual of firs that one could see laying on the forest floor looking through a canopy of trees to the sky.
In the center of the court is the University’s signature “O” with “MATT” written directly under it, which is said to be a logo of high symbolic value. While representing Oregon’s modern graphic language, the logo also represents a Japanese torii gate, which is usually found at the entrance of a Shinto shrine. The literal meaning of the gate is “where the birds reside,” but the figurative meaning of the gate is one that represents something that is sacred. The logo is also said to symbolize Matthew Knight’s toothy grin.  
Centered above the logo, the floor reads “Kilkenny Floor” with a series of three graphics embedded in the lettering. Centered below the logo, an appropriate “Deep In The Woods” is printed in forest green. Hatfield said they wanted to pay respect to the Kilkenny family, by telling a story through a series of three graphics. Kilkenny is sure that the floor will create positive controversy, sparking interest and discussion about Oregon’s new addition.
Hatfield said he wanted to convey “this whole notion that the University of Oregon is really special and unique and different than any other place or any other college … in the country. So even if you have some sort of technical inspiration or you’re inspired by one thing or another, there is always this overlayer.” This “overlayer,” he explains, “always needs to be unique, fresh, (and) hopefully kind of leaning towards the future, if you will. The new Knight Arena ought to be a wonderful place to go watch a basketball game if you’re rooting for the Ducks.”
Hatfield also explains that, although within NCAA rules, his hopes in designing the floor is that “if you’re part of the opposing team you ought to dread coming to play there because it’s intimidating, it’s loud and even the floor is designed to throw you off a little bit.”
The arena is dedicated to the memory of Matthew Knight, who died in a scuba diving accident in El Salvador. Knight was working with a non-profit near San Salvador to build orphanages when he visited Lake Ilopongo in May of 2004.
The 405,000-square-foot arena is equipped with four high-definition video screens with almost 2 million LEDs. The finished product measures 36 feet wide, nearly three stories tall and weighs in at 60,000 pounds, and is the highest resolution screen in the NCAA. Despite the fact that the finished arena will be arguably the nicest NCAA arena in the country, Knight Arena has also become the first NCAA arena to become LEED Gold-certified. The United States Green Building Council established the Leaders in Environmental and Energy Design program, which measures “green practices” on architectural projects.
It was reported that nearly 90 percent of the debris was recycled during the project and the landscaping of the project is reported to deal with storm water run-off appropriately. Through its impressive use of recycled material, Knight Arena is projected to use 30 percent less energy than a building constructed to code and the glassy exterior allows natural light to flood into the arena. The building is equipped with motion sensors to reduce electricity usage, heat recovery systems, an underground parking garage and a valet parking area for bicycles.
The impressive new floor took 2,500 man-hours to complete and required nearly two miles of stenciling material to perfect the design. Although there has been talk of the floor design causing potential distraction to opposing teams, Hatfield ensured that the court design fits within NCAA rules, and although it may be distracting to some, it’s there to tell a story.
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