A new $53.67 million Indoor Track & Field Facility at Gately Park has completed construction in Chicago’s Pullman neighborhood.
The 139,375-sf building features a 118,000-sf field house that includes a 200-meter, six-lane running track; high jump and long jump pits; pole vault, hurdle, and relay areas; throw cages; sprint lanes; concession areas; locker rooms; and seating for 3,500 spectators.
The remaining 22,000 sf includes a fitness center, multipurpose rooms for community use, Chicago Park District administrative offices, and After School Matters programming space. The After School Matters area, which was designed by Eckenhoff Saunders Architects, includes a dance and exercise studio, a full culinary teaching kitchen, gathering/performance space, a rooftop deck and garden, and multipurpose labs for art, music, science, and technology. The flexible design allows the space to convert to multiple athletic purposes and can accommodate four basketball and six volleyball courts.
The facility’s main feature is its oval track that can be banked to eliminate the centrifugal force that makes athletes lean one way or the other, allowing them to achieve their top speed. The track’s interior lane rests on a pivot and the support system underneath rests on hydraulic cylinders that are part of the actuator system that makes it possible to bank the track for a race. Depending on the length of the race, the track has as many as six preset banking angles. When not in use, all of the track’s lanes lay flat so the space can be used for additional recreation.
The building also features a column-free design as to not interfere with track and field events, which meant the fieldhouse roof was constructed with six massive, 252-foot-by-20-foot-deep barrel-vaulted, 120-ton roof trusses that span the entire width of the space.
In addition to Williams Architects, the build team also included McHugh Construction and Bowa Construction.
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
Dream Fields, Lone Star Style
How important are athletic programs to U.S. school districts? Here's one leading indicator: In 2005, the National Football League sold 17 million tickets. That same year, America's high schools sold an estimated 225 million tickets to football games, according to the American Football Coaches Association.
| Aug 11, 2010
Giants 300 University Report
University construction spending is 13% higher than a year ago—mostly for residence halls and infrastructure on public campuses—and is expected to slip less than 5% over the next two years. However, the value of starts dropped about 10% in recent months and will not return to the 2007–08 peak for about two years.
| Aug 11, 2010
Nurturing the Community
The best seat in the house at the new Seahawks Stadium in Seattle isn't on the 50-yard line. It's in the southeast corner, at the very top of the upper bowl. "From there you have a corner-to-corner view of the field and an inspiring grasp of the surrounding city," says Kelly Kerns, project leader with architect/engineer Ellerbe Becket, Kansas City, Mo.
| Aug 11, 2010
Financial Wizardry Builds a Community
At 69 square miles, Vineland is New Jersey's largest city, at least in geographic area, and it has a rich history. It was established in 1861 as a planned community (well before there were such things) by the utopian Charles Landis. It was in Vineland that Dr. Thomas Welch found a way to preserve grape juice without fermenting it, creating a wine substitute for church use (the town was dry).
| Aug 11, 2010
Integrated Project Delivery builds a brave, new BIM world
Three-dimensional information, such as that provided by building information modeling, allows all members of the Building Team to visualize the many components of a project and how they work together. BIM and other 3D tools convey the idea and intent of the designer to the entire Building Team and lay the groundwork for integrated project delivery.
| Aug 11, 2010
Bronze Award: Alumni Gymnasium Renovation, Dartmouth College Hanover, N.H.
At a time when institutions of higher learning are spending tens of millions of dollars erecting massive, cutting-edge recreation and fitness centers, Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H., decided to take a more modest, historical approach. Instead of building an ultra-grand new facility, the university chose to breathe new life into its landmark Alumni Gymnasium by transforming the outdated 99-y...
