Stadium Construction & Updates pt2

The whole design of the façade was designed to be inexpensive, they may have value engineered the type of panel used, but I am fairly certain a traditional façade was never seriously considered in the final designs due to the price, remember Baylor built a similar stadium with a traditional façade, small shades, and 5k more seats for $138 MILLION more dollars that year.

“A series of rectilinear forms the base of the building to house conditioning and athletic support spaces. Rising above the base is the second thematic element, dubbed the “Cougar Cage,” a permeable, patterned metal wrap that encloses the stadium.” - from DLR Groups site

"The Cougar Cage

Because our design team was given the challenge of creating a full-featured stadium with a relatively limited budget, we had to be creative when designing facades to be impactful. The resulting Cougar Cage is an imaginative use of perforated metal panels that utilizes color to convey movement and wayfinding cues to direct fans to stadium entrances, while also allowing airflow through the concourses." from DLR Group site.

If we were to bolt brick or stone to the upper façade we would need to rework the lower façades, ect. Conservatively an 8 figure project, whereas they can probably replace the metal panels for a few million bucks.

On to Kansas, not sure I am seeing the overhangs in the renderings.

Also their exterior design is fairly close to ours with 2 layers.

Obviously they are still building the stadium, but over hangs appear to be lights not covering, my bad for jumping to conclusions.

To clarify, OP said “use” not multi-use - he’s correct.

Making the space suitable for football and campus-wide commencement were top priorities. We wanted more availability with less downtime between events/games… Turf was a no-brainer and that all but eliminated soccer use.

Also remember… at that time we weren’t far removed from UH football, UH soccer, and the Dynamo all sharing a grass surface - it was a cluster. The thinking was Houston gets 2 brand new facilities, one for UH & HS football, and another for the MLS teams who naturally wanted all youth soccer, etc. at BBVA.

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Here is another rendering of Kansas’s new stadium. It looks like they have metal panels too.

Also if you look just past the stadium they have a bouncy castle area for the kids. I would love to see something like that still setup during the games.

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Thanks. I honestly don’t know a whole lot about soccer requirements, so i was just curious. Appreciate the response.

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The other issue with the soccer requirement is the field is wider which, I am assuming, is why when you go to a football game at NRG the first few rows of seats are on metal risers and not on concrete, they are removable.

Personally, I think this stadium looks terrible. Almost like they left scaffolding on the exterior or something… I much prefer our panels.

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Looks like it’ll be well lit though! I still dislike our lights that are right behind the top row eating. Those guys up there probably should wear protective eyewear!

Your black markings don’t make it symmetrical. Anyway eventually your brain will close the gap for you and you won’t notice it anymore.

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I agree on the shell. I’m not going to fight over it but if you asked me over a beer I’d admit it ain’t my favorite.

Again, some do not realize what we got for what we paid for. Soccer friendly? You betcha I would loved to see it happen but we just did not have the money.
Now if we ever do away with the panels or re-paint/coat the panels. Think about this. Can you imagine the following:


Think of our design on one side with today’s logo on the other side?
I would love it.

I didn’t add those indentations which show the slight curve.

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I mean I actually agree with you but UH just marches to its own drummer. Look at the Moores Opera House. It could have been gorgeous like Rice’s Brockman Hall but UH decided to paint a bunch of junk on the ceiling. Functionally it’s fine, and like TDECU was a major upgrade over Robertson Stadium, Moores was a major upgrade over Dudley Hall and the Cullen Auditorium. We just roll with it…hoping they get all the Centennial Renovations done per the renderings!

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I’m telling you now that if the endzone extended southward to where you indicated then you’d be more agitated by the large incongruent gaps between each side. This is why you should leave the architectural design to the professionals who know what they’re doing. The design fits the context of the space it’s filling in.

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Agreed. This looks bad. I wasn’t a fan of our panels at first, but these panels they have make it look more bare. Almost incomplete look. But, look at what they had before. This is a BIG improvement.

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I’ve read here that TDECU was built using those metal sheets to allow for air flow throughout the stadium.

That is correct, and they work very well.

A few things to set the record straight…

The “cladding” isn’t there to protect you from the sun. The first level concourse is. An unobstructed, 360 degree, shaded concourse is pretty unique in colleges stadiums. Normally you’re either exposed / not covered OR closed off and can’t see the field.


Our design centered around this idea of an open concourse so fans can hide from sun/rain and still watch the game - I.e Arizona game. We had to lower the playing field 25 ft to achieve this, then decided to put the club level at entry level - another unique element not common in CFB.

Ultimately this made the building look like a “real” stadium instead of a cheap bleacher bowl (I.e. UCF) It also saved us from one of those giant, out of place press towers you see all over the NCAA. Terrible for symmetry! Lol. Mack Rhoades had already done the stadium at Akron, and UNT was really the only comparable example of a new “G5” stadium. Both are great facilities but we wanted ours to look a little more “big time” with a large upper deck grandstand. The only negative about lowering the field was it didn’t allow the structure to be as tall. I remember Tilman himself being concerned about this… there were a lot of conversations about visibility from the freeway.

We didn’t want giant, awkward press towers like these.

Instead we tucked our suites and the press box between the upper and lower deck. As a result our club level seats are MUCH closer to the field compared to other stadiums. This trend has really caught on but we were one of the first.

Alright, so the exterior shell…

3 main jobs -

  • protects fans (but more so the main structure) from wind and rain elements
  • keeps air flowing on the concourses
  • visually closes in the outside of the building to avoid a “tinker toy set” look like at UCF, BYU, etc.

How many prefer the air flow in the restrooms vs the concourse? That’s what a closed in brick structure feels like…

Any surface bakes in the sun where we live and that’s why our major league teams play indoors.

Unfortunately we don’t have that option if we want to play on campus. We also don’t have the luxury of leaving the structure totally exposed like programs in other climates. Houston weather is too harsh especially with occasional Hurricane activity. Something needed to be on the exterior.

At the end of the day it came down to durability, aesthetics, life cycle cost, and maintenance costs before comfort.

Prioritizing comfort with no exterior skin at all would jeopardize durability, life cycle cost, and maintenance by leaving the structure exposed. Our stadium would also look like a tinker toy set…

Prioritizing aesthetics with brick or limestone would kill the budget and jeopardize comfort. The concourse would feel like the restrooms unless we closed it in entirely like many northern stadiums. Doing that would take away views of the field. We’d have bricks but no IPF or FOC.

Ultimately we prioritized durability, life cycle cost, and maintenance, without taking huge hits in the other areas. It was a compromise but one we were willing to make. Only a few months earlier we had to give tours of Robertson’s disrepair just to win stakeholders for the new building. Everyone agreed, we could never find ourselves in that situation again… letting our facilities get so bad. Maintenance matters at UH now.

Even still , it’s comfortable enough for fans and we continue to add bells and whistles. The look is a unique modern design for a unique modern university.

The budgets you see published pay for alot more than what you see or how a facility looks.

Costs you don’t see include stuff like:

12,000 linear feet of refrigerant piping, chilled & hot water piping, and condensate drains
21,000 square feet of HVAC ductwork
14,000 square feet of grease duct
37,000 linear feet of domestic water and storm drains

The lower portion of the stadium is 1,775 tons of structural steel, including pieces that were 67+ in length. We used multi-plant ops so the galvanizer could cut transportation cost for our 2 fabricators. The amount of oversized material moving in and out of the galvanizing facility and to the jobsite to meet construction deadlines and then match the steel erection sequences was impressive!

Even the handrails needed to be fabricated and galvanized in numerical order and delivered to the jobsite to be installed in sequence. The opening day deadline came very quickly… lol

The most important thing now - we must continue to take care of and upgrade our new facilities when necessary… and not fall behind on deferred maintenance.

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That’s an excellent breakdown, much appreciated! Love the details.

But why aren’t the openings next to the football operations building symmetrical? (Just kidding! :joy:)

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How about an extra wide elevated walkway from parking garage to the stadium, for tailgating on or covered below.