Missouri State University’s new home for the Bears, the $67 million JQH Arena in Springfield, Mo., features 11,000 seats, 24 private suites, 100 loge seats, 55 courtside seats and a hall of fame. CPI Daylighting Inc., Lake Forest, Ill., supplied 22,000 square feet (2,044 m2) of translucent 4-inch (102-mm) Quadwall sandwich panels for the project. Cloutman & Stingley Inc., Kansas City, was the distributor.
“We really wanted to design this building in a way that you can tell when people are in it and when it was being used,” said Doug Sampson, university architect and director of campus planning. “We looked at a lot of different scenarios and [CPI’s] polycarbonate was the best solution for our project based on performance, energy,cost and weight; translucence being one of the most important characteristics.”
When design began in 2006, Kansas City, Mo.-based architect Ellerbe Becket found that the Quadwall system would not only maximize the daylight entering the arena, but also illuminate an interior-applied image of the university’s mascot after dark.
“Because the system is translucent, we were able to bring light out of the building at night,” said James Poulson, AIA, project design director for Ellerbe Becket. “And we got the added benefit of daylighting during the daytime. The systems’ insulation is better than [insulated] glass and its installation was simple and straightforward. The client loves it.”
CPI worked closely with the architect and structural engineer during the early stages of design to define and account for the natural movement of the arena’s top roof structure. The solution included an allowance for the CPI system to absorb some of the movement internally, while the glazing panels hang suspended off the main structure from the top down via custom connections.Construction began in fall 2007 when large Quadwall areas measuring anywhere from 21 to 50 feet (6 to 15 m) tall and 290 feet (88 m) wide were installed on three of the arena’s four sides.
JQH Arena opened in time for MSU’s 2008basketball season with Metallic Gray translucent panels that blend seamlessly with the metal siding below them. At first glace the panels aren’t even noticeable, much like the vision of MSU’s Bear during the daytime hours. But, as Sampson says, their roar and their bear “peek out at night.”
CPI Daylighting Inc., www.cpidaylighting.com
