View attachment 64715
My comments I put together last night; somebody was looking forward to the Architects and Engineers to jumping in, here you go. Also added thoughts and input on Tomcat's great post incorporated.
Off the top looks great and incorporates a ton of the things I've been advocating for on this board for over a year so that is really exciting! It sounds like that includes the phased schedule I've been pushing to assure no home games are lost. Tomcat is definitely correct this view is looking west towards 81. This looks like a section cut through the existing east upper concourse (see the stairs to level 300) where I put the red cut line in on the rendering. First off it is beautiful love it and love that they are doing this connection to Archbold Gym should be good for providing more direct access from the area most people approach from and provide concession and prefunction space.
Numbered comments correlated to photo:
1. Looks like the the north side concourses are expanded with this outcropping you see on the section and the rendering. Very good news, Possibly switch these to the home side stands?
1a. Should foundations here be designed for a future weight of an academic tower building, (sports management, & relocated physics?) To another commenter if physics building demo isn't in this contract this company or officially slated to go ahead wouldn't have drawn it, wasted work.
2. It looks like they may have expanded the south side also based on the extent of glass but it is hard to tell for sure. They may be using the existing heavy perimeter columns that are currently about 30ft on center as a support and reinforcing them and not expanding this concourse.
2a. If they haven't expanded the south side concourse I would recommend and upper ring concourse at the sideline or at least expanding the upper concourse with a cantilevered/post supported hallway which would also create a rain covered walkway outside, maybe ADA bus stop outside with potential to keep gate A for this purpose, which looks like it is eliminated.
3. Great open end widow. I would love for this to be operable windows with screens to make the stadium open air but bird free on nice days, much cheaper than a retractable roof and combined with ETFE roof has the same outdoor effect and provide natural cooling.
4. Roof structure looks great Love the sawtooth roof. Structurally with high open air volumes like this there are ways to utilize the shape for space frame trusses to get efficient long spans that don't block light. Also gives opportunity to support large video screens with the obvious concern for casting shadows.
4a. You need to be careful with snow on sawtooths, I've done a bunch of these, new and renovation, and it does collect drift. The arching slope it should assist with shedding but will also need to be careful with dangerous slide off. Might be worth it to salvage some of the mechanical systems used to do heat melt the existing dome and add a piped hot air melt system tight to the roof surface, could save a ton of structural cost from snow weight reduce danger of slide off with catches at the eaves.
4b. Saw tooth ETFE faces East. Which is pretty good and particularly provides a costs savings because it is the short direction for the arches to span. Most Dome events are afternoon events and you want bright indirect lighting from this type of window generally so that fits the bill. (Often in buildings with saw tooths the windows face north for this reason.) Shading/reflecting for morning sun to eliminate the greenhouse effect will be key, saw tooths themselves and mount Olympus will do some of the work here but it is a concern.
5. This is one I don't see detailed right now but I want to advocate for. That small structure on the southwest corner looks like a new west main entrance facing down Raynor. I think it should be a replica of the Archbold stadium roman arch that used to face down Raynor. Frame it into an ETFE atrium it would look amazing as a hint of past history and glory welcoming fans to what will be one of the grand main entrances. Hint: I loved the soldier field renovation in Chicago. The old Arch was formed exposed concrete so no need to go nuts with stone finishes here select a nice pigmented concrete with proper admixtures for exterior exposure and use galv rebar. Did this exposed concrete with an 10 story residential building I designed turned out beautiful and facade costs were very low compared to megapanel glass or even brick and block.
5a. Looks like a continuous wrap structure over to the hotel wall here. Would love to see a large atrium with vendors tvs pregame tailgate options, hall of fame, permanent stores, I would expect one main entrance here. There should be a bus stop that shuttles from downtown/oncenter lots here work out a profit sharing deal for parking with the city/county worth it and will help ticket sales.
5b. A cut out at the stadium corner with only exposed concourses here with views of the Valley/Roman arch/sunset would be nice. Big window similar to 3 on the far side may serve this purpose to a less dramatic degree. As an alternate the Same feature on the campus corner facing Hendricks Chapel/Quad would be nice too. These could help reduce field shadowing if designed with the right glass / angles. That cut out is where my season tickets are for Basketball so I get that this may not be a popular idea all things considered if we lose seats but if we rotate the court and add a sunken court all told it should be a net seat positive.
6. Upper windows are a great add above the stands will add great views to the outside. I Wonder if the horizontal line here is a slab for a top level ring concourse with open air to the field/counter/standing room seats. This could provide additional bathrooms, concessions and dedicated exit stairs, think Citi field or the new Busch stadium. This would alleviate a ton of congestion half time and post game even if these are only added at sidelines.
7. Looks like that's the rumored hotel structure, could this also serve as an academic building for a few classrooms for health-human services/hotel management.
7a looks like the hotel structure would be in the way of doing a cut out in the stands for views of downtown and Onondaga, lake Big window similar to 3 may serve this purpose towards the valley. I would expect high end suites open as luxury boxes into the stadium.
7b. Hotel may cast a shadow on the stadium but it is north west corner so unlikely to hit the field during football or basketball season, Maybe first game in September. suncalc.com is a good reference.
8. Inside not labeled: Acoustic design will be key they are increasing roof volume but adding hard surface all efforts must be made to plan out acoustically to keep the LOUD HOUSE and have adjustments/removable acoustical panels designed in to be a premier concert venue where performers sound their best and can host big events rain or shine. There should be acoustic designs for 2 obvious sports setups, graduation/speaking event, and for 3 Music stage setups: Large stadium act (ie Joel), smaller big name act (ie Mayfest) and partitioned multi stage music festival without sound garbling (ie Governors ball/Lollapalooza type, main stage two small stage).
8a. Inside not labeled: A sunken basketball court with a rotated court orientation would be great more volume of seats at sidelines (if you noticed on your last visit the existing 100 and 300 levels go higher with more rows). Students maybe get a partial corner sideline section and the rest back on the movable grandstand which maximizes noise they are on metal bleachers yelling into a bowl from that angle.
8b. Inside not labeled: It may be a viable expense to add a movable 3rd level of seating for the field side of basketball. It would likely pay for itself, 35,000 capacity all prime seats no long range view. My crazy thought is the 3rd level stands rest on top of the existing concrete for football in certain areas then either slides out from the end-zone and corners to form a U, or swings out from the sidelines, hinged where the curtain used to be to form a V behind the current field seats. Both without eliminating the area where tv broadcast is filmed from if needed.
Let me know what you all think, also Let me know if you want to hire me to work on this