Jump to content

Texas A&M University's Kyle Field Developments


Nate99

Recommended Posts

  • 4 weeks later...
  • Replies 208
  • Created
  • Last Reply
  • 1 month later...

Fully done for 2015 season. Next season will be anomaly though as they will construct the South endzone expansion and will not have made the modifications to the West/East side that will remove seats and add suites. Next year the capacity will be 109,000 for one season until 2015 where it will be 102,500

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

First deck on the East side is completely gone and looks like most of the dirt has been removed to achieve the drop in the playing surface apart from the "track" at the perimeter.  There will be suites at the top of the East side first deck, though I do not know if they will be ready for the 2014 season. After next season, they are going to do a controlled collapse of the second and third deck on the West side, presumable after demolishing the first deck the old fashioned way.

 

That will be some YouTube gold and tricky. They will have to avoid the North and South end zones as well as anything toward the East side/field.

 

The new structure is going to be more steel frame than poured concrete. Here's an interesting article about the construction process:

 

http://www.aggieathletics.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=209318218

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I thought they were not demolishing the upper decks...guess not...what's wrong with the west end decks? It's not like they're nearly a century old like the lower deck was.

 

 

The entire West side is a mishmash of structures. They initially built a smaller, maybe 40 yards wide, second deck on the West side. The current second west side deck sits on top of that structure. The third deck was built on top of that. Getting in or out of the second deck is a major logjam and there were never sufficient restroom facilties.

 

As to what was wrong, now that there is sufficient demand, alumni wanted to get more for their money. A stadium designed to sell $15 tickets and a few hot dogs doesn't go over well to the folks forking over in the neighborhood of $250 a head per game, exclusive of their other donations.

 

With all of the other structure in the way, there was no way to expand the existing concourses to accomodate desired amenties, and the rumor is that the plumbing and electrical infrastructure was way overdue for replacement anyway. The third decks were installed in the early 80's (I think). No one would have predicted at the time how much more money would be flooding in to the program (or the sport in general) to account for future expandability and/or there was not enough money to do so at the time.

 

The East (student) side second and third decks will remain as the concourses will be fairly Spartan and the modifications do not have to deal with as many complications, but they will be spruced up.  The second deck concourse on the student side was third world quality. The Read building enclosed the back side and the plumbing never worked, so you had a siflingly hot, dank cave filled with sweaty people.  

 

It's a hell of a project.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I remember that even on the first deck on the east side in watching high school football, the under deck area was pretty grimy. The west end doesn't have the extensive under-the-seat space like the east end did (where Read was built), so if they wanted to build something under there, they couldn't.

 

Meanwhile, the awful-looking tents look like they'll remain.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've heard they are only doing the first deck on the east side so they could keep the same amount of student seats. A tear down and rebuild would have meant moving seating to current code of 24" vs 18" separation and less seats on the student side. We really are a fatter society.

Also, when the east side stands were demolished that dirt hasn't seen sunlight since the 20s.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

stairs? eek. Any escalators going in?

Yes. That's actually a change as today it's ramps or elevator. Think of reliant or minute maid. You can still take a stairs since escalators usually take a long time to clear out

Is that...... Fake brick?....

No, real brick on precast panels

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm beginning to wonder if they'll have the south endzone completed by the end of August. I monitor the cams every single day and I don't see how they are going to add the equivalent of the north end zone in 5 months. Seems as though time is ticking and it is ticking fast. There is nothing there except concrete forms and slabs. Anybody know when the south end zone is going to go vertical?

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm beginning to wonder if they'll have the south endzone completed by the end of August. I monitor the cams every single day and I don't see how they are going to add the equivalent of the north end zone in 5 months. Seems as though time is ticking and it is ticking fast. There is nothing there except concrete forms and slabs. Anybody know when the south end zone is going to go vertical?

 

Completely different construction from the North Endzone.  Expect to see a lot more precast steel and a lot less concrete.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm also a compulsive watcher of the build cameras. You can already make out the SW corner coming together. There are two of the biggest "mobile" cranes I've ever seen that just got set up inside the stadium about to start swinging steel all over the place. This has been impressive to watch.

 

I was there when they built the North end. It was all cast in place concrete. Apart from the footings/pilings/foundations (which are pretty much all there for the South end already), this appears to be all precast or steel. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looks like we finally are starting to get some vertical action going on the south end zone. I'm seeing more and more steal going up over there. Anybody else noticing this? 

 

Definitely. 

 

If you look at the camera from the Zone (North) you can see the bones of the lower bowl coming together.

 

With the two really big cranes in there, I expect the steel will be moving in big chunks. 

EDIT: from scotch's link above, dated 3/11. http://imgur.com/a/IdIip#3

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

I was there when they built the North end. It was all cast in place concrete. Apart from the footings/pilings/foundations (which are pretty much all there for the South end already), this appears to be all precast or steel. 

 

Any advantage/disadvantage to these, other than cost? Is cast concrete more rigid than steel?

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...