Later this month, Airborne San Diego, a 26,508-sf indoor skydiving facility, will open in this city’s East Village near Petco Park stadium.
This is the first facility operated by Airborne America, a Coronado, Calif.-based business that started in 2013. Airborne San Diego will be going head-to-head with iFly, which started in 1998 and until now was the only manufacturer operating wall-to-wall vertical wind tunnels in the U.S. iFly debuted its facility in San Diego in February 2016, one of 11 it opened in the U.S. this year. iFly currently operates a total of 37 locations worldwide, 27 of them in the U.S., and continues to expand.
Airborne America claims that what sets its San Diego facility apart from its competitor is that it will be the first of its kind to offer side-by-side “flight chambers,” glass tubes measuring 30-ft high by 14-ft in diameter, with wind tunnel speeds up to 200 miles per hour.
Having two tunnels allows for competition among patrons. And the facility will have a special training area set aside for military personnel where they can learn to free-fall before graduating to parachute jumps.
The wind speeds can be adjusted to accommodate the skill levels of individuals, and to compensate for variable body drag during advanced acrobatics. “By using a single, highly efficient wind tunnel fan instead of multiple smaller fans, wind noise is reduced, providing a quieter, more energy efficient flight environment,” the company states.
The three-story Airborne San Diego also offers a sky lounge with three levels of viewing platforms, and will operate an onsite café and bar.
Airborne San Diego will be the first indoor skydiving venue to offer dual wind tunnels, each 30-ft high, with wind speeds up to 200 mph. Image: IndoorSkydivingSource.com
Carrier Johnson + CULTURE, which is based in the city, designed Airborne San Diego, and Swinerton Builders was the GC. Aerolab was the wind-tunnel engineer. The website Indoor Skydiving Source reports that Airborne San Diego will be the first in the U.S. to use Tunnelinstructor.org’s rating system to train its instructors.
Airborne San Diego’s design strives to recreate the way skydivers maneuver their bodies as they soar, drift, and plummet through the air. “It’s definitely based on the skydiving experience,” says Claudia Escala, RA, LEED AP, a principal with Carrier Johnson + CULTURE, who with Ray Varela, a design principal with the firm, spoke with BD+C last Friday.
Varela adds that the building assumes an “urban attitude,” with an internal courtyard that opens up to San Diego’s cityscape.
Alan “Buzz” Fink, Airborne America’s president and director, told the San Diego Union-Tribune that his company could open as many as 10 more facilities across the U.S. over the next five to seven years. (The construction cost of the San Diego facility was not made public.) Escala, who resides in the East Village, says that Fink—who also operates skydiving planes—was intimately involved in the design of the San Diego location, which she says “is a prototype for an urban setting.”
Related Stories
Collegiate Stadiums | Apr 4, 2023
6 examples of modern college training facilities
HOK discusses the future of college training facilities, with six design takeaways derived from a discussion between Dan Radakovich, Director of Athletics at the University of Miami, and Trevor Bechtold, Director, HOK’s Sports + Recreation + Entertainment practice.
Sports and Recreational Facilities | Mar 30, 2023
New University of St. Thomas sports arena will support school's move to Division I athletics
The University of St. Thomas in Saint Paul, Minn., last year became the first Division III institution in the modern NCAA to transition directly to Division I. Plans for a new multipurpose sports arena on campus will support that move.
Sports and Recreational Facilities | Mar 17, 2023
Aurora, Colo., recreation center features city’s first indoor field house, unobstructed views of the Rocky Mountains
In January, design firm Populous and the City of Aurora, Colo. marked the opening of the Southeast Aurora Recreation Center and Fieldhouse. The 77,000-sf facility draws design inspiration from the nearby Rocky Mountains. With natural Douglas Fir structure and decking, the building aims to mimic the geography of a canyon.
Sports and Recreational Facilities | Mar 15, 2023
Georgia State University Convocation Center revitalizes long-neglected Atlanta neighborhood
Georgia State University’s new Convocation Center doubles the arena it replaces and is expected to give a shot in the arm to a long-neglected Atlanta neighborhood. The new 200,000 sf multi-use venue in the Summerhill area of Atlanta is the new home for the university’s men’s and women’s basketball teams and will also be used for large-scale academic and community events.
Sports and Recreational Facilities | Feb 27, 2023
New 20,000-seat soccer stadium will anchor neighborhood development in Indianapolis
A new 20,000-seat soccer stadium for United Soccer League’s Indy Eleven will be the centerpiece of a major neighborhood development in Indianapolis. The development will transform the southwest quadrant of downtown Indianapolis by adding more than 600 apartments, 205,000 sf of office space, 197,000 sf for retail space and restaurants, parking garages, a hotel, and public plazas with green space.
Arenas | Feb 23, 2023
Using data to design the sports venue of the future
Former video game developer Abe Stein and HOK's Bill Johnson discuss how to use data to design stadiums and arenas that keep fans engaged and eager to return.
Arenas | Feb 14, 2023
A new communications platform aims to help sports and entertainment venues operate greener
GOAL (for Green Operations and Advanced Leadership) will give operators ways to gauge their sustainability journeys.
Giants 400 | Feb 9, 2023
New Giants 400 download: Get the complete at-a-glance 2022 Giants 400 rankings in Excel
See how your architecture, engineering, or construction firm stacks up against the nation's AEC Giants. For more than 45 years, the editors of Building Design+Construction have surveyed the largest AEC firms in the U.S./Canada to create the annual Giants 400 report. This year, a record 519 firms participated in the Giants 400 report. The final report includes 137 rankings across 25 building sectors and specialty categories.
Steel Buildings | Feb 3, 2023
Top 10 structural steel building projects for 2023
A Mies van der Rohe-designed art and architecture school at Indiana University and Morphosis Architects' Orange County Museum of Art in Costa Mesa, Calif., are among 10 projects to win IDEAS² Awards from the American Institute of Steel Construction.
Sports and Recreational Facilities | Feb 1, 2023
University of Houston opens 'game changer' wellness center at downtown campus
The University of Houston-Downtown (UHD) recently opened its new Wellness & Success Center (WSC). The $39 million, 75,000 sf facility greatly improves the quality of the school’s exercise programs and areas dedicated to them. It also establishes a dynamic core and recognizable landmark for fostering and nurturing an on-campus community, according to a news release from SmithGroup, which designed the building along with HarrisonKornberg Architects.