THE NEW MULTI-PURPOSE ARENA: PART 1

This is the first of ROSSETTI’s Multi-Purpose Arena blog series offering design guidelines to help universities create value through right-sized, affordable facilities.

THE CASE FOR THE NEXT-GEN COLLEGIATE ARENA

A student’s experience on campus often begins and ends in a multi-purpose arena. The thrill of orientation. The communal experiences at games and concerts. The anticipation of commencement. A small to mid-sized arena sets the stage for their most important collegiate memories. For universities, it fills the facilities gap, and becomes the home for multiple athletic, academic, campus-life and community events.

TIME IS MONEY

The time is right for a new paradigm in multi-purpose arena design. Prior to the pandemic, the average cost per seat of a traditional, small collegiate arena approached $14,000 in 2020. To conserve university budgets in the post-COVID world, solutions must focus on compressing design and construction timeframes. This has a direct effect on costs and the ability to quickly create ROI.

The answer?  Use new systems and technologies to condense project development durations from 2-3 years down to 18 months from start to finish. ROSSETTI has developed a new prototype that considers the following areas to deliver the multi-purpose arena at your budget without sacrificing design and experience.

• Economics of construction
• Strategies for prefabrication
• Optimization of program
• Envelope and systems

FLEXIBLE FOR SPORTS, ENTERTAINMENT AND LEARNING

­­The methods we use to create value can be applied across different sizes of arenas to suit each university’s needs. A high degree of flexibility will allow the arena to book the maximum number of days each year across every type of event from sports to community to private and corporate uses. As a team, we will guide you through the optimum design, configuration and layout to meet the goals for your program’s performance, the guest experience and campus integration.

Matt Taylor, AIA, LEED AP, is a Principal at ROSSETTI, with 25 years of sports design experience. Matt is passionate about creating outstanding collegiate sports experiences to meet the mind, body and spirit connection for student athletes and teams. He has designed nationally recognized projects at the universities of Notre Dame, Michigan State, Brigham Young and Wayne State. Contact Matt at mtaylor@rossetti.com.

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