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UNM football: $6.4M building for indoor practices
New facility to include top-of-the-line FieldTurf
New building
UNM's new indoor practice facility will be used by the football team and several Olympic sports. Here are some facts:
Architect: Molzen-Corbin Associates
General contractor: Jaynes Corp.
Location: Third football practice field south of University Stadium.
Dimensions: 210 feet wide by 410 feet long, or 86,100 square feet. The space includes a regulation football field with 7-yard run-outs on the sidelines. The building will be about 76 feet high, with a clearance of 70 feet along the ridgeline.
Structure: Steel-truss supports with a stretched polyclad-fabric top. The lower 12 feet will be covered with steel sliding panels. The facility will have steel doors and overhead coiling doors.
Ventilation: The fabric covering the facility allows air to circulate, and the overhead doors can be opened, as well. There will be no heating or cooling system.
Surface: FieldTurf, which is used in most NFL facilities, is made of polyethylene fibers on the surface and 1 inch of rubber granules to absorb shock. The turf is touted as softer than original artificial turf - known to be an abrasive carpet.
Other features: Two filming towers, one at midfield and the other at the north end zone. Power lines, phone lines and fire-detection equipment will also be installed.
Cost: $6.4 million
Cost per square foot: About $74
Estimated completion date: June 15
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The building won't be an architectural wonder, but the field will be top of the line.
The University of New Mexico is scheduled to break ground today on a new indoor practice facility that will be used by the football team and several Olympic sports.
Designers managed to sneak in some high-end turf on a no-frills project.
"We are going to be installing artificial FieldTurf, which is the kind of stuff you find quite a bit now in most pro stadiums," said Robert Meyer, a UNM staff architect and project manager. "It fit into the budget and is the best surface available."
The turf is supposed to be top of the line, looking and feeling more like actual grass than the old, unforgiving carpet notorious for causing rug burns and turf toe. It has been used by 24 NFL teams and more than 40 college football programs.
"It's going to have this 1-inch layer of rubberized material underneath the surface, and it will be turf on top," Meyer said.
The rubber pellets beneath the turf are supposed to give the field a spring, as well as absorb more shock when athletes land and push off it.
The special surface is a major part of the new indoor practice facility on the third of four practice fields south of University Stadium.
The facility, which will be 86,100 square feet and cost $6.4 million, is schedule to be completed June 15.
"I think it's a pretty economical budget," Meyer said. "About 80 percent of the budget is for construction costs, and the rest is for materials."
Molzen-Corbin Associates is the architectural design firm, while the Jaynes Corp. is the general contractor.
The building will have room for a regulation-size football field, with seven yards of extra room on each sideline. The ceiling will have 70 feet of clearance.
The building will be a bit like a bubble, with layers of polyclad fabric stretched over most of a steel structure to create the upper walls and roof. Ground-level doors will let people into the building, while doors on the roof will be open during warm weather.
UNM is saving money by not installing a heating or cooling system.
"Air will circulate naturally through the fabric covering the building, and doors on the roof can be opened to let more air in and out," Meyer said. "We're saving a lot by not having to deal with any major temperature systems."
The building will include power and phone lines and fire-detection equipment.
"I think we maximized the cost-benefit here, and people will be able to create a really functional facility at a relatively low cost," Meyer said.
