科罗拉多大学的Ed Robson Arena和Yalich学生服务中心在庆祝新时代的开始时向过去致敬。尽管曲棍球是CC的骄傲和传统的传统，但当老虎队在9月在竞技场的NHL大型溜冰场上夺冠时，这是该团队在该计划的80年历史上首次在校园里玩游戏。

Designed by JLG Architects and built by Nunn Construction, the 270,000-sq-ft building not only features the home ice for the school’s Division I hockey team but also will share space with intramural sports, club teams, student life activities, academics and community hockey and figure skating.

The 3,400-seat multipurpose arena also will host regional, national and international events in partnership with the U.S. Olympic Committee, and while the seating capacity is less than half that of the city’s World Arena, a venue south of town where Tiger hockey was played until now, the new venue is more appropriately sized for the campus’ 2,000-student population, says JLG principal Adam Davidson.

“It’s a homecoming of sorts, seeing the student section completely filled. And it creates a sense of place for the greater good of the community,” he adds.

Terra cotta was the inspiration for the aluminum, perforated fin facade, tying it visually to the nearby Garden of the Gods nature area. Other elements were inspired by campus buildings.
图片由JLG建筑师提供

Campus Context

作为科罗拉多斯普林斯市冠军（C4C）倡议的一部分，该项目被设想为通过将校园连接到市中心的核心来帮助加强当地经济。C4C倡议使用该州2013年地区旅游法案提供的收入作为种子资金，以投资新设施，吸引游客到该地区，而Robson Arena是该计划的第五个项目。CC曲棍球校友Ed Robson以及C4C和其他捐助者的大礼物使竞技场的资金成为可能。

The new arena features CMU stair cores and structural steel, plus a precast component, which created coordination and sequencing challenges for crews.
Image courtesy of Nunn Construction

戴维森说，从一开始，该项目就不仅仅是曲棍球。愿景是营造一种地方感，使曲棍球和田径运动能够在国家一级竞争，同时满足更广阔的校园和科罗拉多斯普林斯社区的需求。戴维森说，体育馆涵盖了一个完整的城市街区，旨在牢记学生的体验，“为社区和校园进行正确的规模。”

他说：“它如何通过石材和自然元素与科罗拉多大学的户外性质联系在一起，以及它位于前范围内的位置[有助于]尊重过去并庆祝新体验。”Terra Cotta是铝制，穿孔的鳍外墙的灵感来源，将其与周围环境的自然美景和附近的众神自然地区的花园绑在一起，而其他元素则从现有的校园建筑中汲取灵感。

大学间曲棍球综合体与壁内运动，俱乐部团队，餐厅和书店共享空间，为校园的学生生活创建了枢纽。
图片由JLG建筑师提供

More importantly, the versatile arena connects Colorado College to the downtown neighborhood in a significant way: The multipurpose event and meeting space includes an outdoor plaza and will play host to art and music events and student life activities for the campus and surrounding community. The adjacent Yalich center includes the school’s health and well-being services, the college bookstore and mail center, an art studio and restaurant space.

“The project’s design went through several iterations to determine how to make the best use of that city block,” explains Amber Branigan, associate vice president of facilities for Colorado College. To the north and east of campus are well-established neighborhoods with beautiful old Victorian homes, and part of the success of the project, she says, was the front-end work related to community outreach and the setting of expectations for neighbors. Nunn created a monthly newsletter to keep the neighbors updated about progress and provided ongoing communication throughout the project.

布拉尼根（Branigan）说，基于社区的元素取得了巨大的成功，将人们带到了奥运会前后的校园。她说，这家书店以前被埋葬在地下室，现在是一个非常可见的店面，“随着我们将[科罗拉多大学]装备纳入人们的手中，在比赛前跳跃。”

弯曲空间

Because the structures were being built concurrently, construction of the arena, parking garage and adjacent Yalich center required strategic phasing measures to ensure crews were not on top of each other while staying cognizant of time and site restraints.

“At any one point we were finishing one part while erecting another,” says Vinnie Mattivi, senior project manager at Nunn. “You could walk through an area being painted to an area without structural steel up.”

And because the project site is “in the heart of a college campus within a residential neighborhood within a downtown setting, [construction challenges] included a little bit of everything, from coordinating with downtown traffic and multiple cranes on site to working closely to communicate with residential neighbors about the project’s progress,” he says.

With so many moving pieces, the biggest concern was how to keep everyone safe. The arena’s structure features CMU stair cores and structural steel, and it also required a precast component, which added another coordination and sequencing item, Mattivi says. Nunn’s solution was a sequence that involved five 500-ton cranes on site as well as truck delivery paths to allow the steel and precast crews to erect the main bowl of the arena at the same time as the structural steel for the building.

“我们离开一段钢铁都允许precast deliveries and steel deliveries to access next to the crane. Once we had most of the bowl erected, both cranes moved out to the far west side of the site and erected the last area,” Mattivi says.

Pandemic-related material supply challenges also required additional processes like procurement tracking, and whenever there was a delay, the team had to pivot. “For example, when insulation was delayed by months, we had to change our plan midstream and do a 180,” Mattivi says.

建筑师的愿景创造了一个空间，使曲棍球计划可以在国家一级竞争，同时促进社区和市区的联系。
Image courtesy of the Unfound Door

Cost Efficiencies

Value engineering for the arena proved to be an extensive process to align the desired features and design materials with Colorado College’s budget. Nunn worked closely with both the college and design team to reduce the budget by almost $7 million without sacrificing the overall look and quality of the arena. Creative solutions varied from slight changes in materials to different lighting packages as well as expanding the subcontractor pool for bidders to increase competition and get better pricing.

Nunn also brought in mechanical and electrical trade partners during the design development stage to assist with the constructibility process of the mechanical room. It was a tight area, and numerous trades needed space for their equipment and piping, says Dan Lonski, the project’s senior superintendent. Nunn used the BIM process to coordinate and prefabricate much of the work to cut down on time spent trying to shoehorn material into place.

“Being able to fabricate the pipe off site allowed us to more efficiently install everything required for the chillers and pumps designed to complete this fully functioning sheet of ice. Had this not been realized in the coordination phase, the possibility of oversight could have resulted in costly redesigns and re-installations of systems, delaying the schedule and inflating the budget,” Lonski says.

Prepping an Ice Slab

The sequence and flow in and around the arena’s ice was another critical piece of the project. “We had to make sure most of the work above the ice was completed before starting prep work for the refrigeration and ice slab,” Lonksi explains.

冰建造阶段的复杂而多步骤的过程包括超过10英里的管道和420立方英尺的混凝土连续倒入，以确保地板上没有冷关节。一个为期28天的固化过程需要用水疗毯覆盖平板，随后进行了五天的全天候工作以制造冰。使用三个冷水机和多个泵来循环制冷剂通过几英里的管道循环以达到所需的厚度并保持冰温。

The 3,400-seat venue is right-sized for the campus’ 2,000-student population, creating a packed-house on game days and ramping up school spirit.
图片由JLG建筑师

Green Goals

Colorado College achieved net zero in 2020, and Robson Arena furthers its commitment to sustainable design with a carbon-neutral, net-zero energy goal. Davidson says the project included an analysis of the correct energy systems for short-term costs, carbon neutrality, long-term maintenance and overall operational costs. Multiple scenarios were considered during the design phase, including ground-source geothermal, multiple ice plant options and the current solution—a campus-fed heating and cooling system.

“The project was continuously analyzed throughout design to ensure the building met the current and long-term goals of the building and the campus, which was to lower energy consumption, work toward carbon neutrality in being solar ready, and a positive performing system that went above code minimum and was robust, easy to operate,” he says.