Memorial Field House, once the lovely Collegiate Gothic (ca. 1933) centerpiece (along with neighboring University Hall) of the University of Toledo campus, took its share of abuse after a new athletic arena made it redundant, in 1976. The ultimate insult occurred when the ROTC used it as a paintball venue.
All that changed in 2006, when the university, facing a burst in student enrollment, an expansion of program offerings, and concern about future space needs, commissioned a major overhaul that, three years later, recast the 134,200-sf gymnasium into a LEED Gold learning environment housing classrooms, teaching labs, faculty offices, and space for future growth.
The extensive Building Team, led by Cincinnati’s BHDP Architecture, literally constructed a building within a building, expanding the single-floor high-bay arena into three floors within the existing building envelope. The tri-level structure, with its exposed steel truss supports, features a dramatic cruciform skylight above a “Town Hall” atrium that has become one of the most popular meeting and study spaces on campus.
Planning for the project ensured that the university would have sufficient classroom space to meet its enrollment projections through 2020. Fifty-four classrooms, varying in size for classes of 20, 30, or 40, were built. A practice gym was converted into a 250-seat, three-screen auditorium; another was repurposed for language laboratories. The “Collegiate Loft” on the new third floor houses the UT Center for Teaching and Learning. The latest A/V equipment—flat panel monitors, electronic whiteboards, audience response systems—enables multiple teaching styles.
Memorial Field House was the university’s first LEED Gold building. Two noteworthy innovations: 1) the Building Team kept a chilled water plant housed in the building’s central courtyard fully operation, along with a 15kV electrical substation and main campus communications fiber; and 2) the team field erected new air-handling units in two old basketball gyms and integrated engineered smoke control with the new skylight system.
“They definitely did their homework,” said jurist Tom Brooks, VP of Reconstruction at Chicago’s Berglund Construction. “They maintained the façade, which is important to me, and did it all on a budget so low it almost looks like a typo.” For the record, construction costs were $21.5 million, or $160/sf. BD+C
PROJECT SUMMARY
Building Team
Owner: The University of Toledo
Submitting firm: BHDP Architecture (architect, interior designer)
Civil/structural engineer: Poggemeyer Design Group
MEP engineer: Heapy Engineering
Program analyst: Comprehensive Facilities Planning, Inc.
General contractor: A. Z. Shimina, Inc.
A/V, IT, acoustics consultant: The Sextant Group
Steel construction: Mosser Construction
Cost consultant: ProjDel Corp.
General Information
Area: 134,200 gsf
Construction cost: $21.5 million
Construction time: January 2006 to January 2009
Related Stories
| Feb 2, 2012
VLK Architects selected for new Cypress, Texas elementary school
The Bridgeland Elementary School will be a new prototype school for the District. Designed to meet the requirements of The Collaborative for High Performance Schools.
| Feb 2, 2012
Mortenson Construction to build 2.4 MW solar project in North Carolina
Located on a 12 acre site in the Sandhills region, the 2.4 megawatt (MW) system is expected to generate approximately 3.5 million kilowatt hours (kWhs) of clean electricity on an annual basis.
| Feb 2, 2012
Shawmut Design and Construction launches sports venues division
Expansion caps year of growth for Shawmut.
| Feb 2, 2012
Fire rated glazing helps historic university preserve its past
When the University embarked on its first major addition since the opening of Hutchins Hall in 1933, preserving the Collegiate Gothic-style architecture was of utmost importance.
| Feb 2, 2012
Delk joins Gilbane Building Co.
Delk to focus on healthcare construction programs and highly complex higher education facilities for Gilbane Building Company’s Southwest region.
| Feb 2, 2012
Next phase of construction begins on Scripps Prebys Cardiovascular Institute
$456 million Institute will be comprehensive heart center for 21st Century.
| Feb 1, 2012
Increase notched in construction jobs, but unemployment rate still at 16%
AGC officials said that construction employment likely benefited from unseasonably warm weather across much of the country that extended the building season.
| Feb 1, 2012
Replacement windows eliminate weak link in the building envelope
Replacement or retrofit can help keep energy costs from going out the window.
| Feb 1, 2012
‘Augmented reality’ comes to the job site
A new software tool derived from virtual reality is helping Building Teams use the power of BIM models more effectively.
| Feb 1, 2012
New ways to work with wood
New products like cross-laminated timber are spurring interest in wood as a structural material.