The All-Star Batting Range in Brookfield, Conn., is a prime example of how truly non-traditional a metal building can be. The sports and entertainment facility, which features a metal building from Columbus, Miss.-based Ceco Building Systems, sports an exterior reminiscent of an old-fashioned baseball park, according to Pat Cleary, president of Pre-Engineered Building Concepts, Brookfield, the design-builder on the project.
Cleary explained that the in-house design team wanted to create the look and feel of an old ballpark so they replicated the frieze that lined the roof of the original Yankee Stadium from 1923 through 1973. All-Star Batting Range is a 100-foot clear span width building with an eave height of 28 feet, along with a 60-foot single-slope expansion with 28-foot eave height. Ceco also supplied the CXP 24-gauge standing-seam roof panels.
The frieze was constructed from full-scale drawings prepared by Kevin Kenney of Pre-Engineered Building Concepts. With these drawings, an EIFS was installed in multiple layers and colors over a 24-gauge Galvalume steel panel utilizing the Ceco ‘R’ profile in reverse fashion. This panel, in conjunction with horizontal girt members located at approximately 2 1/2-foot centers, created a substantial underlayment to receive the installation of the EIFS material. The masonry finish along the bottom portion of the building structure was constructed utilizing a similar system but formed with a template in the shape and color of used bricks.
According to Cleary, another interesting aspect of the project included the installation of an indoor batting cage which was constructed flush with the perimeter floor area rather than raised on a platform. This was achieved by using a multi-sloped concrete floor pitched to an underground ball retrieval unit that propels the balls with the aid of a series of intricate piping work to redeposit the balls by gravity to the appropriate pitching machine.
