The recently completed 530,000-sf University of Texas Moody Center is the new home for men’s and women’s basketball at the Austin campus. At full capacity, the arena, located in a former parking lot just south of Mike A. Myers Stadium, the home of Longhorn track and field and soccer teams, will seat 15,000 spectators.
The structure can also host more intimate events when a first-of-its-kind operable upper bowl closure screen converts the venue from 15,000 seats to a 10,000-seat configuration. Inside the building, the advanced roof structure supports amenities designed to make the building flexible for a variety of events: a central retractable video board and a 250,000-lb. show rigging grid including an extensive tension wire rigging platform.
These features are expected to make Austin a major destination for touring shows. The arena bowl precast seating units accommodate an efficient under-seat air distribution system, helping to make the Moody Center one of the most sustainable arenas in the U.S., according to a news release by structural engineer Walter P Moore.
The site presented a significant structural challenge due to slopes up to 50 feet moving from west to east. A deep retention system with heights up to 70 feet was employed, which is “unprecedented for an arena structure,” the release says.
Much of the arena is underground, and a concrete frame forms the primary structure of the building. Daylighting is provided at the upper concourse at the east side and the main concourse at the west side.
Around the perimeter of the building, the long-span steel roof cantilevers up to 75 feet beyond the edge, creating shaded entry spaces. The cantilevered roof floats above an extensive glass curtain wall.
The Moody Center replaces the Frank C. Erwin Center, a 40-year-old arena. That iconic structure was demolished to make way for the expansion of the Dell Medical School.
Owner and/or developer: The University of Texas System Office of Facilities Planning & Construction
Design architect: Gensler
MEP engineer: Henderson Engineers
Structural engineer: Walter P Moore
General contractor/construction manager: AECOM Hunt
Related Stories
| Jul 18, 2014
Contractors warm up to new technologies, invent new management schemes [2014 Giants 300 Report]
“UAV.” “LATISTA.” “CMST.” If BD+C Giants 300 contractors have anything to say about it, these new terms may someday be as well known as “BIM” or “LEED.” Here’s a sampling of what Giant GCs and CMs are doing by way of technological and managerial innovation.
| Jul 18, 2014
Top Construction Management Firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Jacobs, Barton Malow, Hill International top Building Design+Construction's 2014 ranking of the largest construction management and project management firms in the United States.
| Jul 18, 2014
Top Contractors [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Turner, Whiting-Turner, Skanska top Building Design+Construction's 2014 ranking of the largest contractors in the United States.
| Jul 18, 2014
Engineering firms look to bolster growth through new services, technology [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Following solid revenue growth in 2013, the majority of U.S.-based engineering and engineering/architecture firms expect more of the same this year, according to BD+C’s 2014 Giants 300 report.
| Jul 18, 2014
Top Engineering/Architecture Firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Jacobs, AECOM, Parsons Brinckerhoff top Building Design+Construction's 2014 ranking of the largest engineering/architecture firms in the United States.
| Jul 18, 2014
Top Engineering Firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Fluor, Arup, Day & Zimmermann top Building Design+Construction's 2014 ranking of the largest engineering firms in the United States.
| Jul 18, 2014
Top Architecture Firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Gensler, Perkins+Will, NBBJ top Building Design+Construction's 2014 ranking of the largest architecture firms in the United States.
| Jul 18, 2014
2014 Giants 300 Report
Building Design+Construction magazine's annual ranking the nation's largest architecture, engineering, and construction firms in the U.S.
| Jul 17, 2014
A new, vibrant waterfront for the capital
Plans to improve Washington D.C.'s Potomac River waterfront by Maine Ave. have been discussed for years. Finally, The Wharf has started its first phase of construction.
| Jul 8, 2014
Does Zaha Hadid’s Tokyo Olympic Stadium have a design flaw?
After being criticized for the cost and size of her stadium design for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, a Japanese architect points out a major design flaw in the stadium that may endanger the spectators.
