Could an NHL barn have a retractable roof?

[Retail1LO*]

With all the success the Winter Classic and Heritage Classic have enjoyed, would it be possible for an NHL arena to be constructed with a retractable dome? I'm curious to see what some of you think. I know there are a lot of challenges in building the makeshift rinks designed to host a single game in unpredictable weather...but would it be feasible to open a dome when you knew it was going to be a nice crisp night out with little chance for inclement weather? Would there be any benefit whatsoever to having the roof retracted?

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[Jeffrey93]

With all the success the Winter Classic and Heritage Classic have enjoyed, would it be possible for an NHL arena to be constructed with a retractable dome? I'm curious to see what some of you think. I know there are a lot of challenges in building the makeshift rinks designed to host a single game in unpredictable weather...but would it be feasible to open a dome when you knew it was going to be a nice crisp night out with little chance for inclement weather? Would there be any benefit whatsoever to having the roof retracted?

How "crisp" of a night are we talking about? The entire building would have to be capable of staying above freezing with the roof open. This is one reason why the Winter Classic can't be held in Toronto's Skydome I believe...the building isn't capable of handling the sub-zero temperatures with the roof open for any extended period of time.

With all the lighting, scoreboards, press boxes, etc. crammed into the roof of NHL arenas I imagine it would tack on an enormous cost to have a retractable roof. And even if you did...with all the steel and equipment up there...would fans even notice the roof was open?

Mellon Arena had a retractable roof...but designs like that aren't exactly the most cost effective for an NHL venue. I agree that it would be pretty cool if it could be done and really have the feeling of being outdoors, the problem is that I imagine the additional cost would be far too much to make it worthwhile for anyone to attempt just so fans can say 'whoa..that's pretty neat'.

 

[Retail1LO*]

How "crisp" of a night are we talking about? The entire building would have to be capable of staying above freezing with the roof open. This is one reason why the Winter Classic can't be held in Toronto's Skydome I believe...the building isn't capable of handling the sub-zero temperatures with the roof open for any extended period of time.

With all the lighting, scoreboards, press boxes, etc. crammed into the roof of NHL arenas I imagine it would tack on an enormous cost to have a retractable roof. And even if you did...with all the steel and equipment up there...would fans even notice the roof was open?

Mellon Arena had a retractable roof...but designs like that aren't exactly the most cost effective for an NHL venue. I agree that it would be pretty cool if it could be done and really have the feeling of being outdoors, the problem is that I imagine the additional cost would be far too much to make it worthwhile for anyone to attempt just so fans can say 'whoa..that's pretty neat'.

A lot of football stadiums obviously survive sub-zero temps. I can't imagine it would be terribly difficult for most modern structures to do the same. I understand lighting an NHL arena is different than say, a football stadium, and wouldn't necessarily be conducive to a completely "open air" atmosphere with whatever overhead rigging would be present. I'm guessing the additional cost would be pretty prohibitive, relative to the benefit.

 

[Bear of Bad News]

With all the success the Winter Classic and Heritage Classic have enjoyed, would it be possible for an NHL arena to be constructed with a retractable dome?

It's possible. The Igloo in Pittsburgh had one:

 

[edog37]

It's possible. The Igloo in Pittsburgh had one:

which never once opened for a Pens game. You couldn't do it with all the rigging & lighting issues. And really, what would be the point?

 

[GKJ]

What was the point of that roof anyways? I guess not much since they built seats over it. Anyone know what the event or type of event that photo is?

 

[AllByDesign]

Looks like Curling...

 

[Rakunitz23]

When the Civic Arena got the scoreboard, it eliminated its ability to retract the roof, thereby answering your question

 

[LadyStanley]

IIRC it was designed for a orchestral venue, but the acoustics were horrible.

 

[SabFanInOtt]

If a team in a warm weather climate had a retractable roof I could see some utility to it. Imagine the Kings/Lakers/Clippers playing all their home games with an open roof, that would be pretty cool but I'm sure it would be tough to design and the costs would go way up.


Does anybody know where there is video of the Mellon Arean opening (or closing) in two minutes as I'd love to see that. Also, how often in its history was the arena opened up? Can anybody who lives in Pittsburgh give us a rough idea? Seems like it was pretty rare.


http://www.mellonarena.com/site41.php

The Mellon Arena is famous for its revolutionary architectural design which features the largest retractable, stainless steel dome roof in the world--170,000 total square feet and 2,950 tons of Pittsburgh steel. The roof, which has no interior supports, is divided radially into eight leaves and is supported by a huge cantilever arm that arches 260 feet. The Mellon Arena, which was featured in the 1995 film "Sudden Death" starring Jean Claude Van Damme, boasts a dome that is designed to open or close in just two minutes

 

[SabFanInOtt]

Found some video of it opening up at 1:40 of the below video. It mentions some guys want to open it up one more time and play a hockey game there. Originally built for the Light Opera. A remarkable building indeed.

 

[LadyStanley]

Those sponsor-shaped fan-driven air ships that ply the air of the arenas wouldn't happen in an open air venue.

There are enough issues with the flow of air in a closed arena. One strong gust could get it in another zip code of an open arena.

 

[Evil Doctor]

which never once opened for a Pens game. You couldn't do it with all the rigging & lighting issues. And really, what would be the point?

Actually it did, once, by accident. It was on a weekend afternoon game televised on NBC, never wrote down the date, so I have no idea in what year it even happened. Just remember a little sliver of sunshine streaming down the ice for a couple of minutes. I got a small laugh out of it...

 

[Jeffrey93]

A lot of football stadiums obviously survive sub-zero temps. I can't imagine it would be terribly difficult for most modern structures to do the same. I understand lighting an NHL arena is different than say, a football stadium, and wouldn't necessarily be conducive to a completely "open air" atmosphere with whatever overhead rigging would be present. I'm guessing the additional cost would be pretty prohibitive, relative to the benefit.

How many football stadiums survive sub-zero temps that are domed stadiums?

 

[Buck Aki Berg]

which never once opened for a Pens game.

Yeah it did. It was game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals between Chicago and Pittsburgh back in the 90s. Jean-Claude Van Damme was in goal for Pittsburgh

 

[wjhl2009fan]

With all the success the Winter Classic and Heritage Classic have enjoyed, would it be possible for an NHL arena to be constructed with a retractable dome? I'm curious to see what some of you think. I know there are a lot of challenges in building the makeshift rinks designed to host a single game in unpredictable weather...but would it be feasible to open a dome when you knew it was going to be a nice crisp night out with little chance for inclement weather? Would there be any benefit whatsoever to having the roof retracted?

The main issue right now is some think the winter classic is over done to many tiems etc now if you have teams doing this 10-20 times a year well you could kiss the classic good bye.

 

[edog37]

What was the point of that roof anyways? I guess not much since they built seats over it. Anyone know what the event or type of event that photo is?

the Civic Arena was originally built to house the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera. It opened years before the Pens came around....