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
Multifamily Housing | Apr 26, 2022
Fitness centers for multifamily housing: Advice from 'Dr. Fitness,' Karl Smith
In this episode for HorizonTV, Cortland's Karl Smith shares best practices for designing, siting, and operating fitness centers in apartment communities.
Sports and Recreational Facilities | Apr 25, 2022
Iowa's Field of Dreams to get boutique hotel, new baseball fields
A decade ago, Go the Distance Baseball formed to preserve the Iowa farm site where the 1989 movie Field of Dreams was filmed.
Projects | Apr 5, 2022
San Francisco Giants open new training facility in Phoenix
The new San Francisco Giants Player Development Center at Papago Park in Phoenix, Ariz., includes a first-of-its-kind space for Major League Baseball training facilities: an indoor half field.
Projects | Mar 22, 2022
AREA15 to open second location in Orlando, Florida
AREA15, an immersive and experiential art, entertainment, dining and retail center, recently announced that it will open its second location in Orlando, Florida, in 2024.
Sports and Recreational Facilities | Feb 3, 2022
Populous designs two new venues for Birmingham
Global design firm Populous collaborated with the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Center to open two new venues in Birmingham, Alabama this past Fall. Both venues are located in Birmingham’s downtown area, and are a part of the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex (BJCC).
Sponsored | Steel Buildings | Jan 25, 2022
Structural Game Changer: Winning solution for curved-wall gymnasium design
Sports and Recreational Facilities | Dec 15, 2021
Trends in sports stadium construction, with Turner Construction's Dewey Newton
Turner Construction's Dewey Newton discusses trends in sports stadium renovation and construction with BD+C's John Caulfield. Newton is a Senior Vice President who heads up Turner Construction’s Sports Group.
Giants 400 | Oct 22, 2021
2021 Sports Facilities Giants: Top architecture, engineering, and construction firms in the U.S. sports and recreation facility sector
AECOM, Populous, Kimley-Horn, and HOK top BD+C's rankings of the nation's largest sports and recreation facility sector architecture, engineering, and construction firms, as reported in the 2021 Giants 400 Report.
Sports and Recreational Facilities | Sep 30, 2021
Experiential sportsman’s club set to open in Lakewood, Colo.
Nadel Architecture designed the project.
Arenas | Sep 20, 2021
LA Clippers unveil $1.8 billion Intuit Dome
AECOM is the lead designer for the project.
