Vikings Stadium Miscellaneous Discussion

[Tyler]

Are people saying the skyways will extend from the CBD to the stadium? What is that based on?

A slide during the presentation.

[FISHMANPET]

I'm really disappointed this isn't a Supertall!

Does anyone know if there's a possibility for Rollerdome to return to the new stadium? I see a continuous concourse above the big glass doors, but if there's only a single one, that could make things difficult.

[mamundsen]

^^^Viktor. There was a slide in the presentation last night that showed the sky system map. It showed an extension connecting the new stadium to the current system.

Also this from the Vikings.com facts and figures:

"Parking ramps with skyways from the north and south sides of the stadium and connections from the facility to the downtown skyway system."

[MumfordMoses]

there will be louver openings on the east side also, per Vikes Lester Bagley.

west end windows will only take a couple minutes to open.

That's great news. But I think they can figure out more such openings, esp on the south side. It would be ideal if they could open some of the roof, strategic places that breathe more outside air when the time is ripe.

[nordeast homer]

If you go to Vikings.com some of the slides show the skyways coming out of the structure so you can see what part of the building they connect with and which direction they head.

[mark]

For me, the biggest issue is the non-transparent part of the roof. I think if the roof had been entirely clear, it'd be much improved.

Isn't there a cost-effective way to increase and decrease the opacity of a roof like that on the stadium?

[Dalgar]

For me, the biggest issue is the non-transparent part of the roof. I think if the roof had been entirely clear, it'd be much improved.

Agreed! I wonder why this wasn't done. The ETFE is lighter than anything else, so it can't be a structural reason. Cost?

[mullen]

i have been wondering about that also. why isn't the entire roof transparent?

it resembles a viking ship the more and more i look at these renderings. a big, hulking ship...guess that's appropriate for a football stadium.

[Nick]

Are people saying the skyways will extend from the CBD to the stadium? What is that based on?

There was a slide during the presentation that had the skyway system map, and it included two branches from the main system over to the stadium site, presumably going through the Strib blocks.

[mamundsen]

In watching the presentation, I believe he said something about the reasoning behind only having the south half of the roof clear was that the north half would shade the north stands. Basically it's all about sun studies. I wonder if they have actually done these and just not released them yet. I remember there were lots of Target Field sun studies showing different times of day at different times of the year.

[John]

Bold, unique and modern without being too eccentric and gimmicky. That's not easy to do. I'm a fan.

EDIT: It also looks like a viking ship, which is what I was hoping for from the get-go.

The more I look at it , the more I can see the influence of both Scandanavian culture with an unusual blend of a Japanese paper Origami geometry. It's unique, but I agree not too overdone or gimmicky. I think for some of the critics, it's a building that will take time to appreciate. It will be interesting to see it how this works out when its completed.

[TWA]

North facing windows (or in this case a roof) get much more sun than any other direction- turning the whole stadium into a greenhouse. They want shade to keep it from getting too much solar heat. Also all the body heat from the people already heat the building up. If they didn't shade it, they would have to have their A/C running full blast even in the winter to keep the place from getting so hot and muggy on game days. Don't even want to think about what a warm sunny day would be like in there if it was all glassed in.

EDIT: Now I am confused and I think I have that backwards... moss grows on the north side of a tree right? So that means the south gets more sun... wish I had paid more attention in Astronomy class now.

So yeah, I have no idea, clearly

[mullen]

you're right, didn't think about that.

[Tyler]

As you've figured out TWA, it's the south side which gets the direct sun. So that's not the reason. I agree with all of you though: an all-etfe roof solves a lot of my issues with this. I wonder if that was ever on the table.

[moda253]

I'm trying not to but I really hate this roof. I guess too expensive to do all ETFE?

In homes, north facing rooms get more sun and keep rooms warmer. I would imagine they want to block that out so it doesn't get too hot and act like a $1bil greenhouse

Say what? North facing rooms get the least sun and are cooler and is the reason why moss grows on the north side of the trees.

I'm not sure North Face chose that name for their company to show that their products can withstand the warmest of climates.

Edit: I see you flipped it around. I thought I was going crazy because I've always known the north facing side to be the cold side. Many plants didn't live very long in my north facing apartment.

[Dalgar]

North Face Stadium. I like it.

[Avian]

Anyone else have other thoughts for names? 3M Field? Betty Crocker's Family Dome? Valhalla?

[talindsay]

It's half of a good stadium design: the south and west sides are pretty good and I like the creativity of its architectural expression. But the north and east sides are pretty poor, in my opinion, not offering much chance to embrace the area. Given that we live at 45 degrees north there's not much sense in spending a lot of money on big windows on those sides, but at least some efforts to liven up the design would have been appreciated.

[NickP]

I guess my question is, what is there on the north or east side of the stadium that we want to embrace? Most of what is there is highway or entrances to highway. I can understand that it would be nice if that gets bridged over and developed, but I honestly don't know if that will ever happen.

[hoffm83n]

They should connect west bank but im not sure that's going to happen even with a redesign of washington ave.