With 12 institutions, 280 national championships, and 120 years of historic intercollegiate sports, the Big Ten Conference will continue its mission of “honoring legends and building leaders” in a new $20 million, 50,000-sf headquarters in Rosemont, Ill.
The mixed-use HQ features a 3,500-sf interactive museum on the first floor showcasing past and present legends. The building also includes a conference center on the second floor for more than 130 annual Big Ten academic and athletic meetings that educate tomorrow’s Conference leaders. Oh, and don’t forget the 10,000-sf Brazilian steakhouse, Fogo de Chao, on the first floor. Athletes need to eat, too.
The facility will also include an office for the Village of Rosemont, a Big Ten visitor’s center, catering kitchen, fitness center, dining area, office space for the Conference’s 40 on-site staff members, and a third floor video command center, where conference officials can train and monitor games on eight, 60-inch LCD screens and one 130-inch screen with separate, sound-isolated booths. Conference officials also have the ability to broadcast on the Big Ten Network from the command center.
“The completion of our hew headquarters has given us the space needed for our staff to function properly while leaving room for future growth,” said Brad Traviolia, Deputy Commissioner, Big Ten Conference. “The state-of-the-art conference center allows us to host gatherings of leaders from our member institutions as well as from across the country.”
Fast-tracked construction
Fast-tracked to meet the first of the Conference’s meetings last year, Leopardo Companies, Inc. (www.leopardo.com), the project’s contractor, worked with base-building and other space-specific architects as well as the building’s structural and MEP engineers to complete the facility in just under a year, opening in October 2013.
Beginning construction in the late fall of 2012 created a challenge for Leopardo, which had to battle Chicago’s severe winter weather on multiple occasions.
“We needed to get the pad constructed and complete all the underground utility work as quickly as possible, pouring the slab on grade before we even erected the steel to save time and money for the client, relative to the imminent winter weather at the time,” said Leigh McMillen, vice president, Leopardo. Even so, a massive wind tunnel threatened the completion of the second and third floor concrete, and a temporary enclosure had to be rebuilt during construction before successfully completing the slab.
Once construction started, the decision was made to finish the interior of the museum space instead of just a core and shell build out, with the same fast-tracked delivery. Leopardo suggested a depressed slab, or 6-inch computer access floor, to provide the flexibility to both move interactive displays as needed over time and also the right amount of cooling/heating. With a depressed slab, Leopardo successfully finished the slab-on-grade pour before the weather worsened, saving money on winter conditions and expediting the schedule. Improved safety was another benefit of having the slab-on-grade poured early. Working off of a flat, finished concrete slab ensures each ladder, scaffold and lift had a firm footing to the ground.
A unique terra cotta rain screen was specified for the building’s exterior in orange to resemble real brick. Manufactured in Europe, the 1x4-foot clay panels hang on a steel rail system that’s mounted to the building’s exterior framing. In its highest profile application to date and its debut in the Chicago area, Leopardo teamed with another Midwest contractor to meet the distinctive challenges that came with its installation.
"I think the idea and execution of a multi-functional space?office, museum and restaurant?is a good example of the construction team finding an innovative solution," said Brad Traviolia, Deputy Commissioner, Big Ten Conference. "Working with Leopardo on solutions like this make the building what it is today and we are extremely pleased with the finished product."
Located in the heart of Rosemont’s new MB Financial Bank entertainment district, the most recognized brand in intercollegiate sports history just got BIGger.
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
NAVFAC releases guidelines for sustainable reconstruction of Navy facilities
The guidelines provide specific guidance for installation commanders, assessment teams, estimators, programmers and building designers for identifying the sustainable opportunities, synergies, strategies, features and benefits for improving installations following a disaster instead of simply repairing or replacing them as they were prior to the disaster.
| Aug 11, 2010
City of Anaheim selects HOK Los Angeles and Parsons Brinckerhoff to design the Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center
The Los Angeles office of HOK, a global architecture design firm, and Parsons Brinckerhoff, a global infrastructure strategic consulting, engineering and program/construction management organization, announced its combined team was selected by the Anaheim City Council and Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) to design phase one of the Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center.
| Aug 11, 2010
GBCI launches credentialing maintenance program for current LEED APs
The Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI) launched a credentialing maintenance program (CMP) for LEED APs and Green Associates, ensuring that LEED professional credentials will remain relevant and meaningful in a rapidly evolving marketplace.
| Aug 11, 2010
Construction employment shrinks in 319 of the nation's 336 largest metro areas in July, continuing months-long slide
Construction workers in communities across the country continued to suffer extreme job losses this July according to a new analysis of metropolitan area employment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics released today by the Associated General Contractors of America. That analysis found construction employment declined in 319 of the nation’s largest communities while only 11 areas saw increases and six saw no change in construction employment between July 2008 and July 2009.
| Aug 11, 2010
Green consultant guarantees LEED certification or your money back
With cities mandating LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification for public, and even private, buildings in growing numbers, an Atlanta-based sustainability consulting firm is hoping to ease anxieties over meeting those goals with the industry’s first Green Guaranteed.
| Aug 11, 2010
Architecture Billings Index bounces back after substantial dip
Exhibiting a welcome rebound following a 5-point dip the month prior, the Architecture Billings Index (ABI) was up almost 6 points in July. As a leading economic indicator of construction activity, the ABI reflects the approximate nine to twelve month lag time between architecture billings and construction spending. The American Institute of Architects (AIA) reported the July ABI rating was 43.1, up noticeably from 37.7 the previous month.
| Aug 11, 2010
Rafael Vinoly-designed East Wing opens at Cleveland Museum of Art
Rafael Vinoly Architects has designed the new East Wing at the Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA), Ohio, which opened to the public on June 27, 2009. Its completion marks the opening of the first of three planned wings.
