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| Photo: Alfonso Guevara |
Material properties give metal an edge over the competition
Metal building applications can achieve numerous design goals in large sports stadium and arena projects. Functionality, design aesthetics, economy and other properties make metal well-suited for these projects. The use of metal in large stadiums and arenas is evolving; architects, contractors, design-builders and others continue discovering new ways to maximize metal’s benefits.
Perforated Pattern
David Lizarraga, senior architect and senior associate at Kansas City, Mo.-based Populous, the firm that designed Estadio BBVA Bancomer, which opened in Monterrey, Mexico, in August, says from an aesthetic perspective, new ways to utilize metals emerge every year. The soccer stadium project included an anti-pitch invasion system built with galvanized pipe and tensioned steel cable in between supplied by MMEASA S.A. de C.V., Monterrey. It was the first time this type of metal application was installed in Mexico, Lizarraga says. “This is basically a system that it doesn’t block a view to the field from the spectators, but it does prevent spectators from getting into the pitch.”
Functionality and material properties contribute to the increasing specification of metal building products for large sports stadium and arena projects. “The reason why is because metals are very durable when they have the right treatments, against corrosion and against the usage from the spectators,” Lizarraga says.
Kalzip Ltd., United Kingdom, supplied 6-mm perforated mill-finished aluminum standing seam wall panels and solid mill-finished aluminum standing seam wall panels to clad the exterior of Estadio BBVA Bancomer. The standing seam panels are perforated on the bottom 4 to 5 meters of the skin and transition into solid panels as the height increases. “The rationale for using aluminum was to provide a more dynamic skin as the sunlight hits the aluminum,” Lizarraga says. “It provides different tones and different shades depending on the angle of the light as it hits the aluminum, and also depending on the angle from where the spectators are approaching the stadium.” The perforated metal cladding emits light from the stadium at night and increases passive air circulation, Lizarraga says. “Those perforations allow for air movement and also allow some light into the main concourses and the upper concourse,” he says.
The main structure of Estadio BBVA Bancomer is cast-in-place concrete and curved steel trusses that support a large canopy. The trusses were rolled individually, not faceted with several pieces, Lizarraga explains. The 9.2-meter-by-55-meter painted trusses were supplied by Aceros Lozano S.A. de C.V., Nuevo Leon, Mexico. The chords have 40-centimeter-by-60-centimeter sections. “The trusses cantilever 50 meters to cover the entire seating bowl all the way to the front row,” Lizarraga says. “These trusses are only supported in two points, one at the base and one at the back of the upper deck.”
Additional metal applications include expanded metal ceilings painted black for the exterior suite corridors supplied by Lamina Desplegada S.A. de C.V. (Ladesa), Nuevo Leon, and perforated metal balustrades painted black installed at the monumental stairs, suite corridors and upper concourse guardrails supplied by Monterrey-based Electromontajes S.A. de C.V., and Ladesa. Ladesa supplied a curved, expanded galvanized metal security fence for the stadium perimeter and Electromontajes supplied rolled steel tubular framing to support the fence.
Estadio BBVA Bancomer, Monterrey, Mexico
Design architect: POPULOUS, Kansas City, Mo.
Architect of record: VFO Arquitectos, Mexico, Mexico
Construction manager: PMP Consultores, Monterrey
Structural engineer: BuroHappold Engineering, New York City, and Sistemas Optimos Constructivos S.A. de C.V. (SOCSA), Monterrey
MEP engineer: Termotecnica Quintanilla, Monterrey; Ingenieria en Aire y Control S.A. de C.V. (IACSA), Naucalpan, Mexico; and AKF Group LLC, Mexico
Civil engineer: Optima, Monterrey
Balustrades/tubular framing: Electromontajes S.A. de C.V., Monterrey, www.electromontaje.com
Balustrades/metal ceilings/metal security fence: Lamina Desplegada S.A. de C.V. (Ladesa), Nuevo Leon, Mexico, www.ladesa.com
Galvanized pipe and tensioned steel cable: MMEASA S.A. de C.V., Monterrey, www.masa.mx
Metal wall panels: Kalzip Ltd., United Kingdom, www.kalzip.com
Trusses: Aceros Lozano S.A. de C.V., Nuevo Leon, www.aceroslozano.com
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| Photo: Slyworks Photography |
Easy Expansion
The flexibility of metal building materials can be a benefit for large arena facilities with future expansion plans. David Quenemoen, AIA, principal at Houston-based Page Southerland Page Inc. (Page), the architecture firm that designed TDECU Stadium at the University of Houston, says metal lends itself to the shapes of large sports stadiums and arenas. “When surrounding the seating bowls, you begin to create building shapes that are not typical, they might be oval, faceted or other kinds of sculptural shapes, and metal just lends itself to cladding those forms better than other types of building materials,” he says.
TDECU Stadium was designed to expand the sections of seats as the University of Houston’s football program grows; metal’s flexibility contributed to meeting this project goal, Quenemoen says. “Adding to the back of the stands becomes less complex. The skin is removed, more stands are added and then the skin is replaced. It’s not a destructive process to remove them and add to the stadium, so that’s a significant advantage.”
Tampa, Fla.-based McNICHOLS Co. supplied 3/4-inch circular perforated metal material to Vision Enclosure Walls Inc., Dallas, which fabricated the wall panels in mill-finished aluminum and powdercoated in custom Cougar Red for the stadium’s exterior. “It was just a standard perforated panel that we varied in size and color to create the pattern on the façade,” Quenemoen says.
Fabral Inc., Lancaster, Pa., supplied its Silhouette HCF Series formed metal panels and 12R0 Series formed metal panels with Fluoropolymer coating supplied by Valspar Corp., Minneapolis, for the 40,000-seat TDECU Stadium. Gulf Star Roofing and Sheetmetal, Houston, installed the formed metal panels above the opening and window where brick was used. McElroy Metal, Bossier City, La., supplied its 238T Symmetrical Panel standing seam metal roof panels with Fluoropolymer coating, installed by Gulf Star Roofing and Sheetmetal. Additionally, Vision Enclosure Walls fabricated insulated metal panels (IMPs) with Fluoropolymer coating for the press boxes.
Quenemoen says sports stadiums and arenas require a large amount of exterior cladding for skin; the use of perforated metal panels on TDECU Stadium contributed to meeting design and budgetary goals. “It was a really cost-effective way to cover the building in a visually striking way and worked well for many reasons,” he says.
The metal panels are strong, lightweight and self-supporting; brick and other materials would have required additional supports. “This was a simple frame attached to the structure columns of the stands,” Quenemoen says. “The metal panels were able to support themselves, so they create a whole façade without requiring a lot of extraneous backup structure and framing.” Heat and shading were important factors in the stadium’s design. “The idea is that this perforated skin let us create shade for the concourse and the concession areas underneath the stands, but still keep it open for air movement,” Quenemoen says.
TDE CU Stadium at the University of Houston, Houston
Architect of record/interior designer/MEP engineer: Page Southerland Page Inc. (Page), Houston
Sports design architect: DLR Group, Overland Park, Kan.
General contractor: Manhattan Construction Group, Tulsa, Okla.
Mechanical/electrical engineer: ME Engineers, Houston
Civil/structural engineer: Rogers Moore Engineers, Houston
Installer: Gulf Star Roofing and Sheetmetal, Houston
Coating: Valspar Corp., Minneapolis, www.valsparinspireme.com
Fabricator/installer/insulated metal panels: Vision Enclosure Walls Inc., Dallas, www.vewus.com
Metal roof panels: McElroy Metal, Bossier City, La., www.mcelroymetal.com
Metal wall panels: Fabral Inc., Lancaster, Pa., www.fabral.com
Perforated metal: McNICHOLS Co., Tampa, Fla., www.mcnichols.com
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| Photo: James Haeffner |
Building on a Budget
Cost is a driver behind the widespread use of metal in large sports stadiums and arenas. David Richards is principal and chief operating officer at Detroit-based ROSSETTI, the architecture firm that designed the 5,000-seat Stroh Center at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. Metal applications made it possible for the multipurpose arena to be completed in 2011 for approximately $30 million, about half the cost of similar sized facilities built at the time, Richards says.
Insulated metal panels (IMPs) in White supplied by Moon Township, Pa.-based CENTRIA were utilized for exterior cladding and formed the shape of the building. Horizontal, ribbed metal panels with exposed fasteners in Grey supplied by CENTRIA were installed on approximately half of the exterior, utilizing the insulated metal panels as a substrate, to create two different looks. Additionally, the facility features a 50-foot glass-and-aluminum canted curtainwall supplied by Norcross, Ga.-based Kawneer Co. Inc.
The IMPs created finished interior surfaces in some locations including entrances. The singleoperation installation eliminated additional material and labor costs, Richards says. “Insulated metal panels allowed a dramatic massing on the exterior,” he says. “We didn’t have to come back and install drywall, it was finished in place.”
Greg Sweeney, director of technical design at ROSSETTI, says Bowling Green State University tried for more than five years to start the project, but all of the proposals cost more than the university’s budget. Sweeney says the IMP system made the project possible. “The insulated metal panel methodology on the exterior, along with others, clearly was a big part of what made the project really happen,” he says. “It allowed us to have an incredibly economical exterior envelope to the building, and be done with the least number of trades and products involved.”
The bulk of the building was constructed by one trade, Sweeney says. “The steel frame was up, the installer came in and put in his insulated metal panels, and that’s my enclosure,” he says. “We added another [ribbed] metal panel for aesthetic reasons and design elements, but we already had an enclosure, so we were done when I put in the one product for everything other than the curtainwall.”
ROSSETTI worked with CENTRIA to design the exterior utilizing the IMPs as a substrate for the ribbed panels. Sweeney says since the Stroh Center was completed, CENTRIA and other IMP manufacturers began marketing IMPs as a substrate for other materials including brick, wood and terra cotta.
“I don’t know that Bowling Green was the crux of it, but Bowling Green was certainly one of the first projects that latched onto this new methodology because we saw it as a huge way to actually make the project happen in a very economical way,” he says.
Stroh Center at Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio
Architect: ROSSETTI, Detroit
General contractor: Mosser Construction, Maumee, Ohio
Civil engineer: Proudfoot Associates Inc., Bowling Green
Structural/electrical engineer: URS Group Inc., Cleveland
Construction management consultant: Gilbane Building Co., Cleveland
LEE D/commissioning consultant: Heapy Engineering, Dayton, Ohio
Curtainwall: Kawneer Co. Inc., Norcross, Ga., www.kawneer.com
Metal wall panels: CENTRIA, Moon Township, Pa., www.centriaperformance.com