San Francisco 49ers’ New Eco-Friendly Stadium

When the San Francisco 49ers host the Chicago Bears on Sunday, September 14, it will be their first home game in the brand-new, $1.2 billion, 68,500-seat Levi’s Stadium. A welcome change from the team’s previous venue—the aging and windy Candlestick Park—the new HNTB-designed and Turner/Devcon–built structure is also the first professional football arena in the United States to have achieved LEED Gold certification. Among its environmentally friendly features are a 27,000-square-foot rooftop covered with plants to help control water runoff; park concessions that source ingredients from local suppliers and also compost food and recycle waste; and three bridges connecting the parking lot to the stadium that are equipped with hundreds of solar panels to help power the facility.

Inside the stadium large glass windows provide plenty of natural light and illuminate a collection of paintings and photographs of famous 49ers as well as notable Bay Area figures, such as Jack Kerouac.

Next up? Superbowl 50, which the stadium will host in 2016.