Gophs checking out architects for construction of the basketball practice facility

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GoGophers2005 said:
That is pretty much what I expect they will do. That is a large space guys.
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That isn't what they are going to do. It isn't a large space. Those pics are deceiving. I just don't see a way a full-size $15 million basketball facility can go there. Next time you go to a game, step it off. From the sidewalk to the entrance cannot be over 75-feet. Plus, as mentioned before, that area serves as the loading dock and also the area for the TV production trucks, etc. Not sure where you move all of that to if you build a small little practice facility on that strip of property. Now, some of that area might be used, but it cannot contain the facility in and of itself, IMO.
 

First of all, I think it would be very easy to fit to courts +10 on either end the long way down the length wise of Williams. According to the program I used Google SketchUp Williams(including the SP) is something like 446 feet long. The two courts with 10 feet on each en adds up to 228 feet. So length wise it would fit. Especially if you have one court go out in front like I do.

Second of all GoGophers2005. COM'ON MAN! Every barn needs a silo. I don't think its over powering and would be a great space for a Minnesota Basketball museum/history dispaly. On the main level and maybe a club level above it. If done right it could be really cool.

Thrid I'm planning on going into a little more detailed design on the PF but to that I would like to know what the offical-or as close as we can get to an offical distance-between Williams and University. Overall if they are going to fit a court between Williams and University it has to be a minimum of 60 feet perferably 70 feet wide-not including a side walk. If someone could provide that it would be wonderful.

Also if I could get some basic measurements like
Overall length of the Williams with out the Sports Pavilion?
Height of the Barnlofts off the ground?
Height of the second teir of seating off the ground?
Height of the concourse compared to ground?
Same thing with lockerrooms?
Distance from the front entrance to the seating bowl?
I know some of these measurements will be very difficult to get. But close guesses are welcome. Thanks for your help.
 

Based on these pictures I'm going out on a limb and say that part of this facility will be underground. It makes the most sense and it makes it more costly. I guess it really depends on the engineering at this point.
 

boiler~
What additional items do you envision them being able to include in your model? Do you think your design is a "base" setup or does it have the "extras"? ;) Most importantly, does your proposed facility come with free TruCoat? Because I don't think the U is willing to pay extra for the TruCoat.
 


I'm worried they might not have enough space for possible future expansion on the east side. What if they tear down the sports pavilion on the west side and put it there?
 

I still think the best thing to do would be to build new "sports pavilion" somewhere else and turn the empty space in the barn into the practice facility. That way williams arena can be focused on just basketball, and the new sports pavilion can be designed to suit volleyball/wrestling/gymnastics/etc. better. But, I'm not the AD ...yet.

GO GOPHERS!
 

FarmGopher said:
I still think the best thing to do would be to build new "sports pavilion" somewhere else and turn the empty space in the barn into the practice facility. That way williams arena can be focused on just basketball, and the new sports pavilion can be designed to suit volleyball/wrestling/gymnastics/etc. better. But, I'm not the AD ...yet.

GO GOPHERS!
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The downside to that being that you'll be building 2 new buildings instead of one. At the very least they'd be significantly renovating the SP...the SP as is won't be an adequate practice facility. So in addition to that cost you'd now be building a new SP somewhere else in the area. You'd also need more space then a simple practice facility to do so (IMO). That would make it harder to find a spot in the Stadium Village area.
 

royboy said:
I'm worried they might not have enough space for possible future expansion on the east side. What if they tear down the sports pavilion on the west side and put it there?
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What sort of future expansion are you thinking about?
 



GoAUpher said:
What sort of future expansion are you thinking about?
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Who knows, but we should think ahead about saving room for future needs. I doubt anyone thought about needing room for a practice facility when the Barn was built.
 

I think part of the RFP process is to evaluate the best location, nothing has been decided as far as I know. It's highly unlikely to have a below grade basketball court due to the costs of a large retention system and there is probably high groundwater table. One level below grade, sure, thirty feet is highly unlikely. Sixty feet high isn't that high. The parking ramp across the street is likely taller then that, and Williams arena is much taller then sixty feet.

The quality of the building is dependent on the amount of money to spend. The U is well run and will get the most they can for the money. The more they can spend, the better the quality.
 

GoldInDirt said:
I think part of the RFP process is to evaluate the best location, nothing has been decided as far as I know. It's highly unlikely to have a below grade basketball court due to the costs of a large retention system and there is probably high groundwater table. One level below grade, sure, thirty feet is highly unlikely. Sixty feet high isn't that high. The parking ramp across the street is likely taller then that, and Williams arena is much taller then sixty feet.

The quality of the building is dependent on the amount of money to spend. The U is well run and will get the most they can for the money. The more they can spend, the better the quality.
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When it comes to a retention system I'm wondering if they'd be able to tie into/build upon the retention system that was created for TCF. This sort of thing is out of my comfort zone and I have no idea what it entails...just tossing it out there.
 

GoAUpher said:
boiler~
What additional items do you envision them being able to include in your model? Do you think your design is a "base" setup or does it have the "extras"? ;) Most importantly, does your proposed facility come with free TruCoat? Because I don't think the U is willing to pay extra for the TruCoat.
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There won't be anything too fancy or way out there, GoAUpher. In terms of base design I'm really not sure yet because I don't know/have all the measurements I need yet. I'm really not sure what will all be included but I would think it would include:

A. 2 practice courts
B. New team lockerrooms(for the Gophers Men and Women for sure) with lounge and team theather
C. Coaches offices
D. Weight Room-not large just for both B-Ball Teams
E. Atheltic Medicine Area-again nothing large but just enough to keep the easy stuff in house-meaning no underwater treadmill(sorry)
F. Academic Support-Small just for teams that practice/have lockers in Williams.
G. Equipment Room-Again small. Space for team gear(jersey's, sweats, t's, etc.)
H. New entry on University Ave.
I. Gophers Basketball Hall of Fame in the first floor of the silo.
J. Possibly Club Space and possibly club seats-As much as I hate club seats you need to pay for the expansion somehow. The club space is also a possiblity
K. Possible office space for athletics department. Only if there is space.
L. Loading dock somewhere. Not sure yet.

That's what I can come up with off the top of my head. I am open to ideas or if I missed something please tell me. I will most likely have an outdoor plaza on the east side of the Williams. Great for a few statues or pregame tailgates for football.

Overall the most important thing about the practice facility is that the U spends the money to do it right. Something like this only happen once every 30 years. If you mess up you are done for, if you spend the money to do it right it can last for 40+.

Minnesota has prime examples of both sides of this. Target Center already isn't anything special and its only about 20 years old and needs some serious money to update it. On the other hand if you look at the Xcel Energy Center done right, people think of it as a new building an it already almost a decade old.
You can't say anything about the Dome just because it was simply just a terrible design. It is too early to past judgements on TCF, but when I was there it passed with flying colors.
 



mnboiler said:
There won't be anything too fancy or way out there, GoAUpher. In terms of base design I'm really not sure yet because I don't know/have all the measurements I need yet. I'm really not sure what will all be included but I would think it would include:

A. 2 practice courts
B. New team lockerrooms(for the Gophers Men and Women for sure) with lounge and team theather
C. Coaches offices
D. Weight Room-not large just for both B-Ball Teams
E. Atheltic Medicine Area-again nothing large but just enough to keep the easy stuff in house-meaning no underwater treadmill(sorry)
F. Academic Support-Small just for teams that practice/have lockers in Williams.
G. Equipment Room-Again small. Space for team gear(jersey's, sweats, t's, etc.)
H. New entry on University Ave.
I. Gophers Basketball Hall of Fame in the first floor of the silo.
J. Possibly Club Space and possibly club seats-As much as I hate club seats you need to pay for the expansion somehow. The club space is also a possiblity
K. Possible office space for athletics department. Only if there is space.
L. Loading dock somewhere. Not sure yet.

That's what I can come up with off the top of my head. I am open to ideas or if I missed something please tell me. I will most likely have an outdoor plaza on the east side of the Williams. Great for a few statues or pregame tailgates for football.

Overall the most important thing about the practice facility is that the U spends the money to do it right. Something like this only happen once every 30 years. If you mess up you are done for, if you spend the money to do it right it can last for 40+.

Minnesota has prime examples of both sides of this. Target Center already isn't anything special and its only about 20 years old and needs some serious money to update it. On the other hand if you look at the Xcel Energy Center done right, people think of it as a new building an it already almost a decade old.
You can't say anything about the Dome just because it was simply just a terrible design. It is too early to past judgements on TCF, but when I was there it passed with flying colors.
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What kind of square footage would you see as needed to do what you propose? Also, how tall do you envision the building being? I know these are very specific q's. I'm not trying to be a jerk or put you on the spot...rather, you seem to have put some thought into this and also seem to have some familiarity with the practice facility thing via what Purdue is doing and some investigation into other facilities. So I'm just interested in hearing your thoughts.

I'd love it if the ideas you and GG2005 have would end up being the plan. I'd much prefer the University side location. Here's hoping tj and I are just pessimistic and can be proven wrong.
 

GoAUpher said:
What kind of square footage would you see as needed to do what you propose? Also, how tall do you envision the building being? I know these are very specific q's. I'm not trying to be a jerk or put you on the spot...rather, you seem to have put some thought into this and also seem to have some familiarity with the practice facility thing via what Purdue is doing and some investigation into other facilities. So I'm just interested in hearing your thoughts.

I'd love it if the ideas you and GG2005 have would end up being the plan. I'd much prefer the University side location. Here's hoping tj and I are just pessimistic and can be proven wrong.
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goAUpher it isn't a problem.

I know that sound like I'm trying to stuff alot in a small area but I'm pretty sure most of it will fit. As for square footage I go about it a different route on a project like this. There are some exsisting space issues I go about with putting the building envolpe first so I have the space I have to work with. Then from there I start putting the pieces of the puzzle together. The only thing I know the square footage for sure is the 2 basketball courts after that I'm really not sure. Might sound a little backwards but it works for me. You also need to remember I DO NOT have any formal training in design/engineering/archit. etc.

As for height the building along University it won't be taller than the egde of Williams which is roughly 41 feet, I believe.
 

Practice Facility Needs

mnboiler said:
I'm really not sure what will all be included but I would think it would include:

A. 2 practice courts
B. New team lockerrooms(for the Gophers Men and Women for sure) with lounge and team theather
C. Coaches offices
D. Weight Room-not large just for both B-Ball Teams
E. Atheltic Medicine Area-again nothing large but just enough to keep the easy stuff in house-meaning no underwater treadmill(sorry)
F. Academic Support-Small just for teams that practice/have lockers in Williams.
G. Equipment Room-Again small. Space for team gear(jersey's, sweats, t's, etc.)
H. New entry on University Ave.
I. Gophers Basketball Hall of Fame in the first floor of the silo.
J. Possibly Club Space and possibly club seats-As much as I hate club seats you need to pay for the expansion somehow. The club space is also a possiblity
K. Possible office space for athletics department. Only if there is space.
L. Loading dock somewhere. Not sure yet.
Click to expand...

A decent amount of money has been put into some of the Williams Arena amenities in recent years. Both locker rooms have been updated and are equipped with lounges and theaters, and the sports medicine facilities are adequate. I think that the three main components will be:
- Two full size courts
- Offices for both programs
- Strength-training facility.

While I agree that you want to do it right, the existing facilities are pretty sound. If you are able to tie in a new structure to the existing building, you could probably drop a decent amount of the cost.
 

GoAUpher said:
When it comes to a retention system I'm wondering if they'd be able to tie into/build upon the retention system that was created for TCF. This sort of thing is out of my comfort zone and I have no idea what it entails...just tossing it out there.
Click to expand...

When I said retention system, I was talking about a below grade temporary wall such as piling with wood lagging. Were you thinking of a storm water system or something?

TCF didn't need/have a retention system. The storm water pond across the street did.
 


If I were looking at an initial design of the practice facility I would start by putting the loading area and bb courts down by the pavillion and the old frat house. I'd incorporate offices and admin. and the weight room (if there is one in the program) as close to the courts as possible. Whatever room is left, as we work our way from the old frat towards station 19 bldg would then be left for Williams Arena upgrades aka new University Ave entrance and enhanced stadium amenities.
 

GoldInDirt said:
When I said retention system, I was talking about a below grade temporary wall such as piling with wood lagging. Were you thinking of a storm water system or something?

TCF didn't need/have a retention system. The storm water pond across the street did.
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I was indeed thinking about storm water retention. :) So yea, ignore my thought if you haven't already.
 

HHH_Gopher said:
These two photo albums demonstrate that from a locker room/team lounge/film room perspective, things are in pretty good shape. I'm not sure about training facilities, however.

Women's Facilities
http://www.gophersports.com/PhotoAlbum.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=8400&PALBID=112357

Men's Facilities
http://www.gophersports.com/PhotoAlbum.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=8400&PALBID=3904
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Thanks HHH, I didn't realize that the locker rooms/team lounge/film rooms were in that good of shape. I won't need to add any of that to the design. They look great, besides the fact that the women's theater was a little busy for my taste. How can you pay attention to the film with all that going on around you. I know I couldn't

As for the storm water management. I know nothing about it so I'm not going to touch it in my design.
 

Did anyone else notice the Kroger logo on the floor of early Williams Arena?
 

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