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.