Delivering Inviting Designs

by Marcy Marro | February 1, 2021 12:00 am

Those environmental aspects factored into the design of the facility as well. Metal panel cladding with irregular textures evoke the stratification visible in the nearby mountains—where erosive forces of wind have left their marks over time.

Matt Johnson, associate at Orcutt | Winslow and architect on the project, explains, “This was a really interesting project from a size and use perspective. The building is a pre-engineered metal structure with a span of about 260 feet, creating a full, clear span across the bleachers and the field area eliminating columns that might otherwise block any spectator views.”

Looking back on how the project came to be, Johnson reflects on some of the initial obstacles that the firm overcame—not the least of which was overcoming some site negotiation-inflicted delays which compressed the design process significantly. “After being awarded the project in late 2018, the real work began in January 2019—but it took until June of that year to secure a site. The grand opening date had not changed however, so we lost six months of design and coordination time during our site test efforts. We had a general floor plan for the building, but we still needed a design and we still had a lot of coordination to do with the pre-engineered company.”

Coordinating a pre-engineered building takes time. Performing that coordination while designing was a challenging process. Yet, Johnson says, their modeling team of two, empowered by GRAPHISOFT’s ArchiCAD software, made it possible to execute. “The obstacle was time, and in this particular case, having a really amazing BIM tool is what helped us to overcome it. The back-and-forth with the pre-engineered building took a few months all by itself and had to be complete before we could submit to the city. It also required the structural engineers from the pre-engineered building company and the architectural design team to work together and share calculations. When you consider the complexity of the project, the fact that we were able to get this done with such a small team is incredible.”

To meet budget and schedule constraints, the team took a practical approach and chose to use a pre-engineered metal building known for their fast construction and affordability. Getting the design where they wanted it presented yet another challenge the team was determined to overcome. “We knew the pre-engineered metal building approach was our best bet—but we wanted the project to feel special and make it so that people wouldn’t even realize that it was a pre-engineered building.”

During the six months of site search, Orcutt | Winslow worked with the contractor to learn how to best use the pre-engineered building system to their advantage. “We learned that they could attach a 12-foot cantilever off their frames, which are tapered from 2 to 4 feet deep and take all of the vertical load. That allowed us to use translucent wall panel along the upper 30 feet of the south elevation of the building. We knew it would provide adequate shade and prevent direct sunlight, while allowing for massive natural daylighting. Aesthetically, the translucent wall panels change the feel almost singlehandedly.”

We knew the pre-engineered metal building approach was our best bet—but we wanted the project to feel special and make it so that people wouldn’t even realize that it was a pre-engineered building.

This choice to bring in natural light, greatly reduces having to rely on costly artificial light. Day games can be mostly lit naturally because of the polycarbonate wall panels, and the deep projections provided by the cantilever protect the polycarbonate wall panels from the hot Arizona sun.

Orcutt | Winslow used as full of a BIM process on this project as possible, getting mechanical models for the building. Archicad empowered IFC protocols to support the firm in getting all the necessary components modeled together, even as a proprietary software came into play. “We used IFC import files into our model from structural (the foundation), mechanical and the hybrid stadium seating model from the subcontractor and pre-engineered company on their proprietary system. Archicad helped incorporate all of those elements to get us to reality.”

Having Archicad manage all the different inputs, helped the designers work with their tight timeline. “The day we submitted to the city we already had the shop drawings for the pre-engineered building and for the grandstand seating so we could start doing our internal shop reviews. The importance of Archicad as a powerhouse software that can just take everything on and play nice with the various methods of creating designs and structures and systems cannot be understated.”

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Mary Moscarello manages media, public relations and social media marketing plans for GRAPHISOFT North America. In conversation with Archicad users throughout North America, she produces content for graphisoft.com and covers industry trends in the field of architecture, 3-D design and BIM. For more information, visit www.graphisoft.com[1].

Source URL: https://www.metalarchitecture.com/articles/delivering-inviting-designs/

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