自从2011年参加NCAA的PAC-12会议以来，犹他大学的田径计划一直在稳步升级设施，以更好地与其他顶级大学竞争。获得升级的最新设施是U的米饭赛体育场，UTES的主场足球场以及音乐会和其他大型活动的关键场所。在2002年犹他州的冬季奥运会上，它还举办了开幕式和闭幕式。

A $17.9-million donation from the philanthropic Garff family helped launch an $80-million expansion at the south end of the stadium, to be known as the Ken Garff Performance Zone. “This expansion at the south end will not just add more seats, but it also will be the kind of seating and amenities you see in other Class A collegiate football programs and even professional programs,” says Brent Tippets, a principal with Salt Lake City-based VCBO Architecture and the lead design principal for the project. VCBO partnered with Populous of Kansas City, Mo., on the project.

Tippets说：“回到我们进行设计之前，我们被聘请对该项目进行经济分析。”“大学想看看哪种座位有意义。我们研究了该计划的其他设施和经济学，发现拥有这类便利设施是有意义的，并且随着时间的流逝，它们会得到回报。”

The standard stadium-style seating that sat above what was known as the Clark Building will be replaced with premium seating that includes private suites, loge boxes and ledge seating, Tippets says. Occupying the top level will be a restaurant with outdoor seating and panoramic views of the Salt Lake Valley and the stadium, while a new concessions space and kitchen will serve the new seating area. The total number of seats in the stadium will increase to 51,444 from 45,807. The project also will feature enhanced amenities for athletes, including new locker rooms for both teams, a sports medicine room equipped with X-ray capabilities, a media room for interviews and a club section at field level that players will pass through as they head to the field.

“新座位将非常亲密，并让您可以欣赏到您在那里的领域。这将是一个非常令人兴奋的地方，” Tippets说。

混合奥林匹克遗产

Layton Construction的建筑经理Jared Adamson说，最终的建筑图纸仍在2020年初完成，因此承包商专注于准备该地点。克拉克大楼外的街道级广场包括奥林匹克广场，这是2002年冬季奥运会上72英尺高的奥林匹克大锅的所在地，以及奥运会和小型博物馆的纪念品。

2月，莱顿（Layton）的工作人员用保护性塑料包裹了大锅，并用牙套安装了结构，并将其从现场送出以进行翻新。在体育场完成建设后，大锅将被放置在位于新广场上的售票处附近的西南角。

“Moving the cauldron was a conscious effort to make it more accessible and let people experience it,” Tippets says. “It was behind a gate before, but now it will be mounted on a new 30-foot red-rock pedestal with a water feature. It will be up about 90 feet (high) and will have more prominence. People can get up close and experience it again any time.”

机组人员挖掘了新广场和莱顿早些时候安装的记分牌周围的场地，挖掘了近30英尺的成绩。

“We placed a soil nail wall, which gave us some problems early on,” Adamson says. “The soil in that area has a lot of large rocks, and we had a lot of cave-ins as we were drilling to set the soil nails.”

当涉及到该地区的几个主要公用事业线路时，工作人员不得不处理另一种奥林匹克遗产。亚当森说：“有些事情不是我们认为的地方。”

Tippets speculates that in the rush to complete projects before the 2002 Winter Olympic Games, the locations of new utility lines “were not well documented. It was a mess and a real construction hassle,” he says.

COVID Audibles

Adamson says the demolition plan was originally sequenced to accommodate the 2020 college football season. “Since the Clark Building is right there on the playing field, our original plan was to work south of the building and the scoreboard first, and in December, when the last game was over, we would start tearing [the building] down and fast-track the seating where that building is,” he says.

That plan changed when the COVID-19 pandemic put the brakes on the start of the PAC-12 football season. “Once we were notified the PAC-12 was not going to play, we started tearing it down early. That allowed us to sequence the project a little more efficiently,” says Adamson.

“We can place our structural steel all the way around the scoreboard instead of just doing half and then jumping to the other half. The longest portion of our schedule was for the main building on the south side of the scoreboard. The other side is fairly simple steel and precast concrete risers,” he says.

The scoreboard and its supports will be integrated into the new building and will sit about 6 in. above the roof of the new restaurant, Adamson says.

The project team had to scramble again when the PAC-12 reconsidered canceling the season and announced a reduced and delayed schedule of football games.

Adamson says athletics officials suddenly needed vehicle access to deliver equipment to the playing field.

“There were some footings and foundations in that access way, so we accelerated that and got the concrete done so they could get the access they needed,” he says.

Adapting to the quickly changing needs of the Ute football team and the impacts of the pandemic has been a challenge, says Michael Beck, construction manager for the Dept. of Planning, Design and Construction at the university.

他说：“这个项目的成本和调度组件已经很紧。”“我们对该项目采取了目标价值交付方法。我们已经找到了减轻风险的方法，并有多个出价套餐来获得最佳价值。”

贝克说，结构性钢包是发布最早的竞标套件之一，即使随着时间表的更改，各部分也已经准时到达。

“We knew there would be a long lead time on the steel package because it’s extensive and complex,” he says. “Almost everything is radial, and then we’ve got slopes. A lot of components are just out of the ordinary. There have been some things we’ve been able to complete early and some have been delayed because of COVID-19, but overall, we are still on track.”

The new facility should realize some long-term energy savings, says Tippets, who notes the building is fully electric and utilizes a geothermal heating and cooling system.

“体育场停车场下面已经有两个井。一个用于灌溉水，另一种是我们正在改造的重新注射罐。”他说。“这是使用犹他州设施建设和管理部设定的高性能建筑标准设计的，并符合LEED银牌标准。”

贝克说，项目团队开会以更新日程安排，并每月进行进度评论。他说：“从早期开始，我们就有很多人参加。”