AISC presented members of the project team of the Southwest University Park baseball stadium in El Paso, Texas, with the 2017 IDEAS2 Award for excellence in steel-framed building design during a pregame ceremony conducted at the ballpark on Tuesday.
Charlie Carter, SE, PE, PhD, president of AISC, commented, “The design and construction teams swung big with steel, and the result is a grand slam. This ballpark makes the game more fun for all who play and watch in it.”
Inspired by early 20th-century ballpark design and architect Daniel Burnham’s nearby El Paso Union Depot, located just a few blocks away, the project turned to structural steel to accommodate the associated design requirements, tight site and required delivery speed. The ballpark is located in downtown El Paso, immediately adjacent to active Union Pacific Railroad tracks. In fact, portions of the 7,500- seat stadium cantilever over the tracks, which are located 22 ft below field level.
For more on this project, see “Faster than a Speeding Locomotive” in our July 2015 issue. And for more on all of this year’s IDEAS2 award winners, see “2017 IDEAS2 Awards” in our May issue.
AISC is accepting entries for the 2018 IDEAS2 competition at www.aisc.org/ideas2. The entry deadline is October 6, 2017.