One of the many Texas Engineering Landmarks in celebration of Texas ASCE’s Centennial: 1913-2013 “Engineering a Better Texas.” Visit them all!
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Alamodome, San Antonio, ASCE Texas Section Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement (OCEA) Award 1993
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Opened in 1993 the Alamodome was initially built in the hopes of luring an NFL team to San Antonio. While that hasn’t happened yet the Alamodome could hardly be called a disappointment. Besides the Alamo Bowl, this facility has hosted NCAA Basketball, including the Final Four, a pair of Big 12 Championships, Olympic events, and in 1996, the NBA All Star Game.
The success of the Alamodome is owed to its innovative and flexible design -- maximizing usable square footage and mixed uses with the capability of accommodating over forty different types of events. The column-free design makes it unlike other domes in one very important way: it has an intimate, “human” scale.
The Alamodome features a 9 acre roof, which can be expanded or contracted independent of the concrete structure below, and the largest retractable seating unit in the world – seating 72,000 people for large concerts and reconfiguring to 32,000 for basketball or hockey. It was also the first building in North America with two permanent ice rinks and the only domed stadium to have permanent ice sheets as part of its design.
The structural economy of the Alamodome is remarkable, particularly valuable for a stadium built during an economic downturn. Structural engineers were able to allow for the enormous flat roof expanses by supporting the roof structure with cable stays at each corner and utilizing two sets of tie-back cables for each column to transfer the load to the ground. This innovative technique had never before been used in stadium design.
In addition, a wind tunnel study provided support for the unusual design of the 378-foot long bowstring trusses, which use bridge cables for the bottom chord.
The stadium is also remarkable for having been built on such a narrow site. Size isn’t the only design constraint: the site is located between an expressway and a railroad, demanding traffic engineering studies regarding the movement of large crowds to and from events. And, speaking of which, the space constraints of the site also called for additional parking considerations -- including as shuttle and pedestrian walkway access from remote lots.
A love-to-hate-it San Antonio asset or detraction (depending on whom you ask – some go so far to call it the “Dead Armadillo,” given its “four-poster” appearance), in 1992, before construction was even completed, the Alamodome was booked through 2005.
Records:
Owner- City of San Antonio
Engineer (Structural and Civil) – W.E. Simpson Company, Inc., 7073 San Pedro Avenue, San Antonio, Texas 78216, 210-340-2216.
Architect – Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum (HOK) – HOK Sports Facilities Group, 323 West 8th St. Ste 700, Kansas City, Missouri 64105, 816-221-1576
Contractor- Marmon Mok, One Riverwalk Place, Ste 1600, 700 N. St. Mary’s, San Antonio, TX 78205, 210-223-9492.
FAQS (
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Dimensions to the inside of the outside wall: 560 ft wide, 736 ft long
Height from plaza to ceiling: 160 ft
Height from field level to ceiling (Below ground level): 180 ft
Height to top of mast from Plaza: 288 ft
Height to top of mast from field level (Below ground level): 308 ft
Distance from plaza level to low end of roof: 154 ft
Distance from field level to low end of roof (Below ground level): 136 ft
Dimensions of floor space units to units (closed): 343 ft x 506 ft
Dimensions of floor space units to units (open): 256 ft x 401 ft
Arena configuration floor rail North to South, units out: 118 ft average
Distance east and west units come out: 44 ft
Distance north and south units come out: 52.5 ft
Cubic feet inside to inside walls: 76,608,000 cubic feet (This would hold 573,027,840 gallons of water -- that is 17,907,120 tons in water)
ALAMODOME BY THE NUMBERS (
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240 tons of chiller for ice rink
13 miles of piping under each ice rink
1,600,000 sq feet under roof
400 Horse Power for each of the two boilers
7 Elevators per column
2 Freight Elevators per column
2 Escalators per column
3,699 total kilowatt output by back-up generators (3 generators at 1,233 kw each)
1500 Horse power in each generator
961 Doors in Alamodome
46 full time staff
135+ part time staff
57 acres
672,000 pavers around the building (216,000 sq. ft.)
88 restrooms
16 meeting rooms
2836 parking spaces
55 designated handicap parking spaces
4 outside business call Alamodome home
7 first aid rooms
25 permanent concession stands
FEATURES (
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Four National Design and Construction Awards
Multi-purpose sports and entertainment venue for over 40 different events
Football Seating for 65,000 people
Flexible layout, unique moveable seating system
Cost effective design
FURTHER READING:
Alamodome official website (
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PSI: An Applications Case History Alamodome Depends on Current Technology for "Command Performance" of Electrical Systems (
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The Rivard Report’s Alamodome 20 year Anniversary reflections (
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Alamodome (wikipedia) (
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Baltimore Sun Yet-to-open Alamodome is a hit already booked through 2005 Rick Cantu, Cox News Service May 10, 1992 (
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“The Alamodome, Now 20, Made San Antonio a Bigger, Better City” Robert Rivard 13 May, 2013 (
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Downtown Blog “Alamodome over the years” Benjamin Olivo May 16, 2013 (
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Tickets Any Event “Alamodome” (
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Remember the Alamodome! (
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Marmon Mok Alamodome (
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Alamodome facebook (
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Kawneer (Alcoa) Project Gallery Alamodome (
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Marek Bros (
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Glass, Steel, & Stone (
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Structurae International Database for Civil & Structural Engineering (
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