Careful construction and design considerations Athletes require dedicated focus when training and honing their skills. Ensuring no disruption to their experience during construction and into the facility's operational performance is paramount, especially when working on tight, seasonally-based schedule milestones. Disruption avoidance during construction Expanding and/or renovating training and administrative facilities is typically compressed between seasons. When expanding the Chicago Bears' Halas Hall, Mortenson jumped in with the Bears and the design team to optimize the floor plan and minimize disruption during peak pre-season training hours. Close coordination and planning optimize a project's construction phase, allowing sports teams to remain in their existing locker room spaces until those phases are complete. Wherever possible, leveraging fast-track solutions such as prefabrication reduces installation time, enabling the team to meet accelerated schedules and providing an uninterrupted training experience going into the next season. During a tight off-season timeline, a seamless delivery through a proactive procurement and buyout plan is critical for success.
Collaborating with the owner, operator, and design team to develop and advance document sets allows for early procurement of long-lead time items and issuance of work packages. Phased turnover approaches provide coaches, staff, and athletes advanced access to spaces as others are finished. Early enabling renovation and expansion work—including upgrading existing utilities, making significant seismic upgrades, or creating new foundations—can also be phased and structured before facility construction commences. This allows for a compressed schedule and minimizes interruption to existing operations. Mortenson saw success in this approach when executing Penn State's Lasch Football Building addition in the seven-month off-season, allowing the team to depart for their bowl game before beginning demolition work. Design considerations to enhance the athlete experience When athletes train, noise and vibration from simultaneous activities can create disruption. At the University of Minnesota's Athletes Village, Mortenson evaluated stacking scenarios for various program components to develop an understanding of structural and acoustic isolation impacts. Stacking the men's and women's practice courts with a unique split slab system enhanced sound isolation and structural system efficiency compared to previous designs. Earlier iterations
University of Colorado Boulder Champions Center sports medicine and recovery space
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csengineermag.com
NOVEMBER 2023
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