September 13, 2001

Husky practice building gives designers a workout

Photo courtesy of Carlson Architects Architects broke up Dempsey Indoor’s 83-foot height visually by splitting its upper and lower portions: the upper half is clad with metal siding, the lower half with concrete masonry. Exposed structural steel trusses and columns help tie it all back together.

The Dempsey Indoor is the University of Washington’s new state-of-the-art indoor athletic training facility.

The 95,000-square-foot, 220-foot clear-span structure houses a regulation-size football field, a running track and associated support space. It can accommodate training for football, track and field sports, softball, baseball and soccer, and can be used for large-scale gatherings and events.

The facility is an important part of the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics’ capital improvement program, which also included the renovation of Hec Edmundson Pavilion. With a project cost of $28 million, it represents a major commitment by UW to provide first-class training facilities for student athletes. Construction began in July 2000 and the grand opening was just celebrated at the first home football game on Sept. 8.

The design of the Dempsey began back in summer of 1999. Actually, this was the beginning of the second design effort. Construction documents had been partially completed for a practice facility sited on Montlake Boulevard.

When the athletic department decided to move the project to its ultimate location along Walla Walla Road, just northeast of Husky Stadium, the decision helped earn the facility strong support from the community. The design team was able to show the nearby neighborhoods how a building of the height and bulk required by the program could fit visually into the surrounding environment, which includes Husky Stadium, Nordstrom Tennis Center, the Women’s Fastpitch Softball Building, and the large conifer and cottonwood trees along the lakeshore.

The Walla Walla Road site was clearly the best location for the facility because of its proximity to the other athletic facilities. But for the remainder of the design and the construction, it posed several challenges.

The site is the former Lake Washington lakebed, and the uppermost soils consist of fill placed over a period of 60 years. Water levels are only a few feet below the ground surface, depending on the season. There is a 12-foot slope across the site. And initial studies showed the site would be tightly constrained for such a large building.

Dempsey Indoor fits the site with only inches to spare on all sides. On the west, there is a 5-foot-wide exit corridor between the building and Nordstrom Tennis Center. On the east, the building directly abuts the Walla Walla Road sidewalk. The northeast corner is located on the 50-foot wetland setback line. The southern wall is defined by the edge of the fire lane along Women’s Fastpitch. At the southwest corner, an existing steep slope was cut back to allow access around the building.

The design challenge was to make the building fit into this extremely constricted site, and be a “good neighbor” despite its bulk and closeness to the other structures.

The entry is established at the southwest corner of the facility, adjacent to Husky Stadium and Women’s Fastpitch, and on the vista eastward from Hec Edmundson Pavilion. The floor elevation is set at existing grade here to allow for easy access into the facility by athletic teams with their carts of equipment. Around this main entry lobby, there is now a small plaza where people can gather during events at any of these three venues. Pedestrian access through this plaza has an urban, “athletic village” feel. Wheelchair access to the area is now possible.

To mitigate the visual impact of an 83-foot-tall building at ground level, the building is essentially divided into upper and lower portions. The lower perimeter masonry walls of Dempsey Indoor range in height from 32 to 36 feet, matching the elevation of the masonry walls at the Nordstrom Tennis Center and the top of the structure at Women’s Fastpitch. The color and texture of the concrete masonry units were selected to match Fastpitch and complement the Nordstrom Tennis Center.

The upper portion is a simple metal-clad volume set back from the perimeter masonry walls. The metal walls rise the full building height to the curved roof structure above. The only articulation in the metal volume is a pushed-out gold box on the south wall facing the stadium, sporting a purple “W” graphic like a Husky helmet. On the interior, this gold box provides extra room on the end zone video platform.

Exposed structural steel trusses and columns tie the upper metal portion to the lower perimeter walls, and match the look and color of Husky Stadium’s north stands structure. A similar structural character is used for the entrance lobby pavilion.

The project included several site improvements that also enhance the athletic village feel and function.

First, since the building site was an existing football practice field, the project included the design and construction of a replacement field in the area just east of Husky Stadium.

Second, part of the mitigation for using this particular site was a wetland enhancement project in the area east of the facility, across Walla Walla Road.

Finally, the landscaping around Dempsey Indoor itself moves toward completing the master plan for East Campus, with formal plantings on the south and west sides, facing the campus, and more native species on the north and east. The landscaping also brings scale to the large building facades.

Besides the steel truss system and concrete masonry perimeter walls, the building structure consists of 55 3-foot-diameter piles drilled up to 200 feet deep, cast-in-place concrete foundation walls and main floor girders, and precast concrete floor beams.

The concrete masonry walls form the enclosure for the lower part of the building, while the upper walls are metal-clad composite foam panels on structural steel girts.

The long, high walls are lined with continuous clerestory windows at the top. The windows are cellular plastic sheets in aluminum frames similar to greenhouse cladding. The upper roof is a standing-seam metal roof system made from full-length (200-foot) panels formed on site. The interior structural steel was finish painted prior to erection to facilitate the construction schedule.

The track surface is a state-of-the-art synthetic roll product by Mondo. The field surface is FieldTurf, the same synthetic grass installed last year in Husky Stadium, which is also used on the new outdoor practice field. A system of netting can divide the building into zones for multiple use. Lighting is a combination of up- and downlighting, and is provided at levels that support practice filming. A sound system, cable TV hookups, and other communications systems bring additional flexibility.

The project was bid in four phases starting in May 2000, with the final bid packages issued in October 2000. This process was managed by the general contractor/construction manager, Baugh Construction, as part of the firm’s pre-construction services. Baugh was an integral part of the design team, leading in the value engineering all of the major structural and architectural systems, and in developing project cost estimates and goals. Their well-conceived work plan for both bidding and construction was essential for the timely completion of this large project on the difficult site.

Dempsey Indoor has already partially met the goals set for it despite just being completed. Football staff members believe the facility played a key role in the success of last year’s recruiting efforts.

May all Husky athletes forever stay dry and warm!

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