Spurrier Indoor Football Practice Facility

Project Details

Project Description

This Indoor Football Practice Facility completes the University of South Carolina’s “Gamecock Park,” providing a terminus to the pedestrian spine of this tailgating venue. Borrowing from USC’s historic quads, responding to the university’s traditional design standards, the axial east elevation evokes the language of terminus buildings on the central campus. The deliberately monumental façade stands in contrast to the straightforward pre-engineered metal building behind it, a design strategy driven by a modest budget combined with high expectations for a dramatic presence. Fully conditioned, it is the second intercollegiate football practice facility in the US to achieve LEED Silver certification.

As the University of South Carolina consolidated its Gamecock football functions and fan venues, in the interest of public safety, efficiency and fan experience, the final piece to be added was the Indoor Football Practice Facility, a building type that is being added to collegiate football programs throughout the country, largely as utilitarian, back-of-house facilities. By contrast, USC made the decision to place their facility in the most prominent location on the athletic campus, as the monumental terminus to their new, most-coveted tailgating park, directly opposite the football stadium.

Having completed dozens of previous projects for the university, the architects knew there would be a clear expectation that this building evoke the traditional architecture of the historic “Horseshoe,” USC’s main quad, dating to 1801, with original architecture by South Carolina native Robert Mills, the nation’s first federal architect and designer of the Washington Monument. Adding to the challenge was that the facility would be designed as a huge, pre-engineered metal building, atypical of the type of structure that lends itself to the traditional architectural expression found on campus. Requirements by coaching staff for a three-yard safety zone around the entire perimeter of the full-sized field, and a clear height of seventy five feet at the ridge for field goal practice, also contributed to making it one of the widest and tallest such facilities in the nation.

Early on, the design team recognized that the most economical – and most functional – solution would be a simple, symmetrical, gable-roofed building, and that, by necessity, it would be clearly a pre-engineered metal building in its detailing. Accepting this, the team focused on creating an axial façade facing the lawn, known as Garnet Way, that would be overtly monumental yet compatible with the pre-engineered building. The solution was found through a combination of exploiting the thin, lightweight nature of the pre-engineered building components, setting them in contrast to a comparatively massive masonry façade, celebrating the scale of the structure, inspired by historic gymnasiums.

An exaggerated overhanging roof projects over the Garnet Way façade as well as the east and west façades. Because columns are required to be outboard of the walls, to eliminate unsafe projections of pilasters along the interior sidewalls, the effect of a deeply overhanging roof is further exaggerated and exploited to appear to float over the masonry. The masonry façade, in turn, thickens at the ends, reinforcing the contrast between massiveness and lightness. The main entry further anchors the building and is pulled away from the rest of the façade by means of a translucent glazed reveal. A broad expanse of translucent panels also separates the masonry below from the roof, admitting profuse diffused natural light onto the playing field.

Other aspects of the design, in response to the building’s deceptive scale, were the decision to simplify and paraphrase the neoclassical language found on smaller scale buildings throughout campus. Simplification also allowed the design to respond to the traditional campus architecture without mimicking it. Additional compositional considerations, such as creating a water line that aligns with the awning over the main entry, respond playfully to the scale of the building, adding surprise as one approaches. Along the east and west facades, column covers are subtly sloped, giving way to translucent panels, evoking a sense of movement toward Garnet Way. Interior detailing is completely utilitarian, purposely industrial and straightforward, and relies on composition and scale for dramatic effect. An elevated filming and viewing platform also extends around half of the field perimeter.

Mechanical systems include innovative “rotational air units” that draw cool air across the surface of the field, efficiently cooling players. The building is fully conditioned, and has LEED Silver Certification, making it one of only two LEED Silver facilities of its type in the United States.