UC Berkeley’s Memorial Stadium renovation team received an award Friday for the innovative engineering and architectural design of the stadium’s new press box.
The awards program, conducted annually by the American Institute of Steel Construction, recognizes outstanding engineering and architectural achievements in structural steel projects in the United States. Out of more than 100 entries, the Memorial Stadium press box was one of eight winners.
The 375-foot-long press box appears to float above the western portion of the stadium, supported by four concrete cores and columns. Built to hold about 1,700 people, the two-story structure contains a press and operations center and a club space with sky seating.
The box was a part of the greater Memorial Stadium retrofit, which secured the stadium against damage from earthquakes that it is exposed to due to its location directly above the Hayward fault line. The site’s instability made it a particularly challenging location for construction.
Larry Flynn, director of the awards program — dubbed the Innovative Design in Engineering and Architecture With Structural Steel — said judges had not predetermined the number of winners and gave the award only to projects deemed worthy of recognition.
The judges’ panel, consisting of eight design and construction industry professionals, also assessed projects on sustainability and team collaboration. This is the first time a UC Berkeley project has received this award, according to Flynn.
“It was a very difficult process of doing that because of the limitations they had on the size of the cranes they could use, and the team really had to work together to do that,” Flynn said.
The press box’s ability to move independently of the rest of the stadium allows it to dissipate seismic energy, according to Christopher Petteys, a senior associate at Forell/Elsesser Engineers who worked on the project.
Architects at HNTB Architecture, a principal designer of the stadium renovation, said they were inspired by the legacy of John Galen Howard, whose works include Memorial Stadium, the Campanile and Sather Gate.
“If this was John Galen Howard’s job to do back then, maybe he would have basically built a canopy over the west facade,” said Joe Diesko, HNTB’s project manager. “That canopy probably would have had glass in it, and that was the start of a big idea.”
After the idea was born, architects and engineers went to work designing a press box that would stand strong during earthquakes and would not interfere with the original stadium wall, which is a historic monument.
The press box cost $40 million, and the entire stadium renovation and new student athletic center cost $445 million.
“You know, there’s a lot of criticism about this kind of addition to stadiums because it always seems to be about money, but I was really impressed,” said Margaret Crawford, a professor of architecture at UC Berkeley.
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