page_title: Marlins Park
section_title: Technology and going green
hierarchical_section_title: Marlins Park / Design / Technology and going green
caption_attribution_description: Marlins Park under construction in January 2012.
context_page_description: Marlins Park is a baseball park located in Miami, Florida. It is the current home of the Miami Marlins, the city's Major League Baseball franchise. It is located on 17 acres of the former Miami Orange Bowl site in Little Havana, about 2 miles west of Downtown. Construction was completed in March 2012, in time for the 2012 season.
  The stadium is designed in a neomodern form of baseball architecture. Marlins Park was also LEED certified as the greenest MLB park in 2012. The building is the sixth MLB stadium to have a retractable roof. With a seating capacity of 37,442, it is the third-smallest stadium in Major League Baseball by official capacity, and the smallest by actual capacity.
  The stadium's public-funding plan led to a protracted lawsuit, largely contributed to the ouster of several local politicians, and triggered an SEC investigation. As revelations of the team's finances and their handling of payroll seemed to contradict some of the premises on which the tax-funded-stadium deal were based, the ballpark controversy intensified.
context_section_description: Instead of framing new technology with nostalgic elements as in retro parks, Marlins Park emphasizes the future.  Besides electronic mixed-media artwork, technology is also unmistakably used for commercial purposes.  As a way to market to Latino fans, many digital menu boards on the concession stands continuously switch from English to Spanish and back.   Also, there are no hand-operated advertisement signs; ads are all computerized.
  
  Santee explains:
  It's really just how technology is everywhere.  You don't see any static ad panels in this building.  It's all video-based, IPTV-based.   It's all connected.  The technology is the blood of the building.  It flows through every vein, every piece of building.
  What it means is that [stadium operators] could run a third-inning (concession) special and it would pop up ... You could have the whole building with one sponsor for one moment, if you wanted to.  Or you could do zones.  It gives them maximum flexibility for however they want to present their partners as well as themselves.
  As part of its forward-thinking design, the venue is an efficient, environmentally-friendly green building in its use of materials, waste, and operation.  The selection of building materials included sealants, paint, and adhesives with low VOC (volatile organic compounds) to maximize good indoor-air quality.  A white rubber membrane lining the roof reflects rays to reduce "heat-island effect."  The extensive glass facade allows in natural light during the day and reduces reliance on artificial light.  The suites are built with replenishable bamboo paneling instead of hardwood.  Most construction waste was hauled away to recycling centers during the building phase.
  Palm trees and other native plant species around the building encourage biodiversity. Levy Restaurants, which runs some of the kitchens, gets most of its fresh-food supply directly from local farms that are within a 100-mile (160 km) radius of the stadium.  Approximately 6 million US gallons (23,000,000 L) of water a year are saved with the use of 249 waterless urinals.
  An early aim of the new ballpark was to become the first retractable-roof ballpark to be Silver Certified by Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED).  On May 25, 2012, Marlins Park surpassed that goal by officially becoming the first MLB stadium—and the first retractable-roof stadium in any sport—to achieve LEED Gold Certification, anointing the facility as the most sustainable ballpark in MLB.  The LEED-NC (New Construction) rating system credited the stadium with 40 points toward certification, the highest total of any LEED-certified park in the majors—the retro-contemporary ballparks of Oracle Park, Target Field and Nationals Park are the only others to achieve LEED certification.
  Although they were publicly seeking silver, Loria had privately challenged engineers to shoot for the higher gold certification.  The most difficult aspect of achieving gold, though—and one the design team had doubt it would be able to accomplish—was concerning the energy required to operate the retractable roof.  Populous thought renewable energy would be a part of the sustainability equation but the park opened without solar panels.  However, engineers optimized lighting, mechanical controls, and electrical aspects enough to achieve a 22.4% reduction in energy usage, which exceeded the 14% required for certification.
  The U.S. Green Building Council noted an innovation which earned the facility three credits: Throughout areas of the stadium, including the clubhouses, the floor is made of a synthetic pouring made from recycled Nike shoes.  The Council presented Loria with a plaque to signify the entire gold-certification achievement.
  Rick Fedrizzi, President, CEO and Founding Chair of U.S. Green Building Council stated:
  A lot of people have often thought this [LEED Gold Certification] is an award.  I'd like to think about this as 'the organization has earned its Ph. D,' because earning one of these is not an easy task.  The team that's up here did some amazing things to bring this 
caption: An LED-illuminated show on the super columns during night games, and a rubber membrane lining the roof to reduce heat-island effect are a couple of the parks demonstrations of technology and green efficiency.
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