Training time: Better architecture means better business and football for the New York Jets
by Jonathan McGaha | April 30, 2009 12:00 am
After 18 months of construction, the Atlantic Health Jets Training Facility in
Florham Park, N.J., was completed in September 2008. The state-of-the-art
corporate headquarters and training facility for the New York Jets will
accommodate all the needs of the football and business operations while
creating a competitive advantage for the team with cutting-edge training and
medical facilities, as well as a teaching and learning center.
The architects envisioned creating a focused learning and working environment that would enable the Jets to train at a higher level, with more efficiency and effectiveness and with total focus on football. According to Jets Owner Robert Wood Johnson IV, “If you have great architecture and the architecture is designed specifically for football, you’re going to have a better team on the field.”
“When most people think about football, they don’t think about architecture,” said Roger Duffy, partner at New York City-based Skidmore, Owens & Merrill LLP, the architect. “But football is a business, and like any business, architecture and design can play a key role in how that business’ mission is executed-in this case, winning football games. By centering the entire facility around the heart of the game-the football field-we have designed a living chalkboard, where the players learn and focus, coaches critique, and the game is improved and perfected. Our goal has always been to provide the New York Jets with a competitive advantage by creating a seamless interconnectedness of training, learning, health and fitness on one campus.”
The training facility is made up of 217,561 square feet (20,211 m2) of buildings, including an 86,000-square-foot (7,990-m2) indoor practice facility; 124,561-square-foot (11,571-m2) building that holds an auditorium, classroom seminar rooms, coach’s atrium, two cafeterias, owner’s suite, corporate hospitality wing, and rooms dedicated to health and fitness, as well as medical training; and a 7,561-square-foot (702-m2) field maintenance building. The campus sits on approximately 27 acres (11 hectares).
The indoor practice facility has an architectural feel that integrates into the same style as the other buildings on campus. The space features natural light, as well as a state-of-the-art sport lighting system for videotaping purposes. The full-size practice field includes extendable uprights to avoid obstructions. Practices can be filmed for playback by the coaching staff, who can also monitor practices from their coaching platform located 70 feet
(21 m) above the playing surface. The size of the new indoor facility allows for full punts and kickoff returns, whereas the previous structure did not.
Houston-based Mid-West Steel Building Co. supplied the metal building for the project. The building is 212 feet (65 m) clear span by 400 feet(122 m) long with a 77-foot (23-m) eave height and a 3:12 slope.
Mid-West Steel Building also supplied 84,800 square feet (7,878 m2) of Double-Lok roof panels, which are designed to endure high-force winds,for the new facility. The field-seamed system is machine-jointed with a true 360-degree seam, which is mechanically locked.
“We chose a metal building because it offered some flexibility to work with and we could incorporate some architectural aspects into the building, as well. We feel confident that a metal building will serve us well over time,” said Bill Senn, senior vice president of the New York Jets.
Additionally, Middle sex, N.J.-based BAMCO Inc. fabricated and installed approximately 30,000 square feet (2,787 m2) of Reynobond 0.16-inch (4- mm) aluminum composite material in Bone White and Silver Metallic from Alcoa Architectural Products, Eastman, Ga., at continuous eyebrows around the structure and at all entry areas.
Hunter Roberts Construction Group, Bedminster, N.J., was the general contactor, and Super Steel Structures, Galveston, Texas, was the builder, erector and roofi ng contractor.
Alcoa Architectural Products,
BAMCO Inc.
Mid-West Steel Building Co.
Source URL: https://www.metalarchitecture.com/projects/training-time-better-architecture-means-better-business-and-football-for-the-new-york-jets/