A PLACE OF SENSE

In honor of the Butler Bulldogs making it to the final four game hosted in Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium, I am adding some photos that tie together two of my earlier posts – Lucas Oil Stadium Construction and Hinkle Fieldhouse.

As can be seen from the Final Four seating chart, the court will be placed in the center of the stadium.  This will optimize the half-court and club level viewing angles, and provide seating for over 70,000 spectators. Lucas Oil Stadium is a great tool for the city to attract events such as the Final Four, and NCAA has signed a long term agreement that guarantees a major event every year for the next 30 years!

Construction on LOS began in 2006 (then called Colts Stadium) – a time before the great recession – when it seemed natural for cranes to fill the sky and real estate values to continue climbing.  It has only been a few years since the stadium was substantially complete, but the economy and development prospects for downtown have fallen back to realistic levels.

A vision can be a hard thing to sell, and with the stadium it certainly wasn’t easy.  There were many critics and citizens upset with the high costs, but the stadium is definitely showing that some things are worth the risk. I know that our community has a vision of the area surrounding the stadium, and I hope that the city continues to invest in that vision, learning from the successes of the stadium, the cultural trail, and the Mass Ave redevelopment.

I was recently handed a thumb-drive full of LOS construction photos, I thought it would be fun to post some and remember what it was like when LOS was nothing more than a hole in the ground with a fancy computer model.  (All photos courtesy of Fink Roberts & Petrie, used with permission)

More aerial photos at IN.gov

The Supertrusses required an enormous mat footing to spread out the load.  Here you can see the bottom layer of steel and the many chairs that will support the top layer.  This entire volume was filled with concrete.

Here the steel reinforcing for the mat footing is nearly complete, and a top cage to support the truss baseplate is also being formed.

Steel Rod used to anchor the steel.  This is a lot of rod.

Individual concrete columns were built to support the risers and stadium seating.

Installation of risers and concrete elements.

With the concrete construction on schedule, the steel supertrusses start rising from the ground.

The trusses transition from vertical to horizontal at the four shoulder joints.

The temporary truss supports were enormous structures in themselves.

Another great shot of the stadium trusses with downtown behind.

The truss connection bolts were specially prepared to limit slip.

The northern end zone window and transverse bracing truss.

Once the steel work was in place, the seats and finishes came next.

Blue is the theme here in the Colts home stadium.

The view from above (western supertruss)

Another view from on high (eastern supertruss)

With the stadium set to host a Final Four this year and a Superbowl in 2012, I think the stadium is well on its way to fulfilling the promise of attracting sports fans from around the country.  While it is not the biggest or most expensive new stadium in the last ten years, I still consider it the best because it has been incorporated into the city’s history better than other stadiums.  It is multi-purpose, it was located downtown within walking distance of other attractions and hotels, it mimics the scale and appearance of many historic buildings in the area, and it did not displace existing buildings and shut down existing roads.  In other words, the stadium has been a good citizen.