The WNBA champs’ headquarters celebrates excellence through design
With over 90,000 fans packing the stands during the 2024 WNBA finals, the Professional Women’s Hockey League expanding into two new cities in 2025, and the Women’s Pro Baseball League launching in 2026, the appetite for professional women’s sports has never been stronger. As the popularity of professional women’s athletics grows, the world of architecture and design is rising to meet the demand. Such is the case for the IES Illumination Award of Merit-earning Las Vegas Aces headquarters in Henderson, NV. It’s only fitting that a three-time WNBA World Championship team has its own training facility, a home in its own right—and the Aces’ headquarters is the first of its kind, created exclusively for a WNBA team.
One could say the $40 million project with collaborative work done by Henderson Engineers, design firm Gensler, and sports facility owner’s management consulting firm CAA ICON, produced a “baller” outcome. The sleek black-and-white facility displays diamond themes in support of the team’s colors and logo and features a lighting strategy designed to promote excellence, focus, and community, while reducing stress and anxiety. “I’m proud to have been part of a historic development that paves the way for similar projects in women’s professional sports,” said Henderson Engineers Venue Sector Lead Lighting Designer Jacob Hothan. “To top it off, the Aces won two back-to-back Championships during the construction process, so it sort of felt like we were delivering a well-deserved trophy to the athletes.” Henderson Engineers’ scope of work on the project included architectural lighting, A/V, electrical, fire and life safety, mechanical, plumbing, security, and telecom elements, with the project tip-off beginning in February 2021 and the final buzzer sounding in March 2023.
Global circumstances served the design team some extra “crunch-time” strain. “Project design began less than a year after the onset of COVID-19, which caused supply chain challenges and a surge in material costs,” explained Hothan. “Our team had to get creative with our specifications to deliver the intended state-of-the-art facility while remaining within budget. [Aces owner] Mark Davis is passionate and knowledgeable about lighting, so he was particular about diffused lighting and ensuring perceived brightness was reduced wherever possible. We met this requirement by dimming lensed fixtures, ensuring luminance and glare is managed, adding extra diffusing lenses to downlights and pendants, and using indirect cove lighting in high-performance areas.”
Another way in which the lighting design takes the well-being of the athletes into account includes indirect light sources in medical/recovery spaces with high-impact lighting placed only in essential areas. These choices not only emphasize the specific architectural or decorative elements throughout the facility but also minimize eye strain while encouraging productivity and healing. The use of cool 3500K and 4000K LEDs throughout the project was chosen to “boost energy, alertness, and ensure peak performance,” noted Hothan.
Team Spirit
The Aces’ diamond doesn’t just appear on the court or in the merch shop: glamorous 3-D logos on walls are emphasized with light throughout the facility and diamond shapes are represented in custom pendants in key locations such as the reception area, locker room, and owner’s lounge. The repeated motif sparks team pride and reminds everyone—administration, athletes, community, fans, and rivals—whose house it is.
The themes of unity and strength are harnessed through the design’s consistent use of linear fixtures. “We incorporated linear lighting throughout the facility, evoking a sense of pulling in the same direction, which is especially important for a sports team,” said Hothan. For example, the lobby features indirect cove linear uplights flanking recessed linear downlights and canopy linear fixtures—all welcoming visitors inside and guiding them toward the reception desk and beyond to the central courts. Within the lobby, a trophy cabinet is illuminated with a wash of light at the top of the display case as well as with linear lines of light tracing each side of the structure to highlight the team’s accomplishments.
More lines can be found on the facility’s glossy, monolithic stairway: silicone encased handrail lighting connects visitors regardless of the direction they’re walking and reinforcing a sense of unity.
Hothan cites these moments in the lobby and stair as two of his favorite design details from the project. “I love the entryway’s custom mitered linear lights that continue to the lobby, which features a triangular lighting fixture that alludes to the logo, creating a memorable transition between the two spaces,” admitted Hothan. “Another standout detail is the monumental marble staircase located within the lobby. There are LED strips running along each of the stair’s faceted stone ‘folds,’ cutting through the stone mass in a uniquely edgy way.”
And the lines continue into the team’s private quarters: the locker room, where much of the behind-the-scenes magic is made and team identity is strengthened. Recessed linear downlights set to 3500K continuously trace the ceiling and wall, representing the team’s “streamlined efficiency”; the integration of the illumination within the shared space acknowledges the individual players that make up the whole of the Aces.
Though the building is a celebration of the Aces basketball team, it wouldn’t have come together without the teamwork of numerous firms. “Any project of this magnitude requires a high level of coordination and collaboration,” said Hothan. “The camaraderie we had with Gensler, Burke Construction Group, CAA ICON, the Aces ownership, and many others on the development team was a key reason for the project’s success.” Much like the Aces’ “big three” A’ja Wilson, Jackie Young, and Chelsea Gray—the firms behind the club’s headquarters proved they can deal a winning hand, too. Because at the end of the day, there’s still no “I” (or “firm”) in “team.”
THE DESIGN TEAM
- Jacob Hothan, Member IES, is lead lighting designer, venue sector, with Henderson Engineers.
- Susan Han is an architect at Gensler and served as a designer on the project.
- Kainoa Westermark is a senior associate at Gensler and served as design manager for the project.
- Shannon Miller is director at CAA Icon.