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
Sports and Recreational Facilities | Aug 9, 2018
Populous-designed Buffalo Bills training center expansion will begin construction this fall
Arc Building Partners will lead construction efforts on the project.
| May 24, 2018
Accelerate Live! talk: Security and the built environment: Insights from an embassy designer
In this 15-minute talk at BD+C’s Accelerate Live! conference (May 10, 2018, Chicago), embassy designer Tom Jacobs explores ways that provide the needed protection while keeping intact the representational and inspirational qualities of a design.
Building Team Awards | May 16, 2018
Game, set, match: United States Tennis Association National Campus
Gold Award: With 100 courts and more than 260,000 sf of vertical construction, the USTA National Campus is a sanctuary for tennis enthusiasts.
Sports and Recreational Facilities | May 15, 2018
Is this the most environmentally sustainable arena in the country?
The university arena was designed by Architectural Resources Cambridge.
Sports and Recreational Facilities | Apr 19, 2018
Watch a time-lapse of Wrigley Field’s most recent phase of renovations
The renovations took place between October 2017 and April 2018.
Sports and Recreational Facilities | Apr 19, 2018
Northwestern’s new multi-sport training facility offers expansive views of Lake Michigan
Perkins+Will designed the facility.
Sports and Recreational Facilities | Apr 3, 2018
Westminster College’s new athletic stadium includes a turf field and seating for 2,000
The project is the largest capital improvement project on the campus in over a decade.
Sports and Recreational Facilities | Mar 30, 2018
Final Four excitement? Here are two collegiate sports facilities to check out before your weekend of hoops
CannonDesign recently shared new images of two collegiate sports projects with interesting ties to college basketball past, present and future.
Sports and Recreational Facilities | Mar 27, 2018
The second-oldest basketball arena in NCAA Division I receives $15.5 million update
Bruner/Cott & Associates led the revitalization project.
Sports and Recreational Facilities | Feb 23, 2018
A gym’s exercise equipment helps power an arts and sciences center in Rochester, N.Y.
The equipment’s supplier is eyeing the U.S. for aggressive growth.