We now know the scope of the new arena at Seattle Center after updated figures were released at a public presentation at Pacific Science Center Tuesday night.

The new arena at Seattle Center is expected to be 800,000 square feet, according to the latest plans released by architects on Tuesday night.

The scopes and new diagrams were released during a public presentation at the Pacific Science Center.  Project executives showed their complex plans as part of a new speaker series called the "Science of Sports and Entertainment," including such intricate details as the air conditioning system, and how the Oak View Group plans to protect the historic KeyArena roof. “This is not a renovation," said Project Executive Shaun Mason, of the roughly 200 people at the Paccar Theater.  He said the current plans involve digging down 15 feet, "down and out in four directions."  

Mason said the group has already done exploratory drilling to make sure construction crews can build out the complicated design, which he said will essentially at one point involve "propping up" the roof while excavators do their work.

"Like building a ship in a bottle in a lot of ways," Mason told the audience.  "This is a major undertaking, the likes of which have never been done before..."

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