UW-Green Bay Kress Events Center
Project of the Year: Sports & Entertainment
The $32.5 million Kress Events Center at the University of Wisconsin at Green Bay encompasses the renovation and expansion of the Phoenix Sports Center, a facility that has not been upgrading since opening in 1976.
Kress is the largest building project in UWGB history and will address the needs of students and the athletic department.
The facility will include a central area with seating capacity of about 4,000 people; elevated track; and facilities for racquet, intramural sports, running, weight training and other recreational activities. It will serve as the home court for the women’s basketball, and volleyball team, and an auxiliary court will serve as the practice court for the men’s basketball team.
Kress will serve as the future site for important campus events, including commencement, convocation, summer orientation and other.
The project is part of a plan to add 2,000 students to UWGB’s yearly enrollment, and the new facility will allow the school to expand its intramural program and services to the community.
Below and Above Kress
Utilities that included a steam line electrical, fiber optics and telecommunication fed through the middle of the site for the new facility. A temporary line kept existing facilities running.
A unique element of the building is that it has one of the largest standing seam metal roofs in the state—more than 300 ft in length. The entire span of the curved standing seam roof does not have a joint in it.
Another unique element is the use of windows and lighting. The clerestory windows and translucent glass curtain wall circling the upper portion of the stadium was designed to give the appearance of a free floating roof when then lights are on at night.
Preplanning paid off because change-orders were only slightly over 1% of the total contract value. The project was also finished two months ahead of schedule.
It was due to preplanning and scheduling that the building was able to be enclosed to complete finishing prior to winter.
It was not easy because the project required setting of five steel trusses that averaged 90 tons a piece. Setting the trusses required the use of two 250-ton cranes, and the cranes had to lift each truss in unison.
Then the team faced the challenge of getting the cranes in and out once the foundation walls were up. One section of the foundation wall was left out, allowing the team to bring the boom lifts and forklifts in and out with ease.
Jury Comments: “We think this is a tremendous project by the university and community. They spent a lot of money. Green Bay is not used to this. The facility is state of the art, but fewer than 10,000 students attend classes there.”
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