Seattle arena roof now "floating"

gstommylee

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Jan 31, 2012
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Supporting the Cause and the Roof

Biggest update on the Seattle arena construction to date its now gotten to the point where the 44 million pound roof is now "floating" meaning the only thing holding it up is support columns and beams. And at the moment only half of the support is up the rest of the half will be up by end of year. There is nothing left of the what used to be called Key arena.

 

Centrum Hockey

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Aug 2, 2018
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Good to know that they only thing remaining will be the roof, had heard rumblings otherwise.
The 90s remodel was built on the cheap almost everything in the building was outdated by at least the mid 2000s. There is no way the NHL would have allowed a simple renovation even if they had the room for a nhl rink.
 

StreetHawk

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Sep 30, 2017
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The 90s remodel was built on the cheap almost everything in the building was outdated by at least the mid 2000s. There is no way the NHL would have allowed a simple renovation even if they had the room for a nhl rink.
Seattle conditionally agreed to blow up the arena and build a new one had Seattle secured an expansion team back in the early 90’s but that bid fell apart due to the nba owner at the time who backed out last minute. That arena would have been comparable to the Moda Center and Rogers arena which opened in 1995 and 1996 respectively.

Thus the cheap reno which ultimately cost them the sonics 15 years after the renos were completed.
 
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TheWhiskeyThief

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Dec 24, 2017
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The 90s remodel was built on the cheap almost everything in the building was outdated by at least the mid 2000s. There is no way the NHL would have allowed a simple renovation even if they had the room for a nhl rink.
It was outdated the moment it opened. Saw a Tbird game there in”good” seats, was a disaster. No leg room, crowded concourses, cheap scoreboard.

Barry Ackerley is the devil.
 

powerstuck

Nordiques Hopes Lies
Jan 13, 2012
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The plan was always going to gut everything while leaving the roof intact. They are digging down deeper for the new foot print.

My first thought after watching the video was : this looks smaller than I would have imagined it. But I guess it's just the visual impression of the roof alone over a hole that most likely will be widened underground.
 

tarheelhockey

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Feb 12, 2010
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Biggest update on the Seattle arena construction to date its now gotten to the point where the 44 million pound roof is now "floating" meaning the only thing holding it up is support columns and beams.

I'm no architect, but weren't the support columns and beams always what held up the roof?

(disclaimer: I had to watch the video with sound off)
 
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gstommylee

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Jan 31, 2012
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I'm no architect, but weren't the support columns and beams always what held up the roof?

(disclaimer: I had to watch the video with sound off)

Yes there are support columns and beams to support the roof while they dig down but they aren't actually attached to the roof. The footings that supported the roof have been detached from the ground to make it appear that its "floating"
 
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gstommylee

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Jan 31, 2012
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So how much extra did this project cost in order to preserve that ugly looking "heritage" roof?? What a waste of capital.

It has cultural value to the city and Seattle center itself. It is what it is.

So can we please lay off the trashing of the roof. Its beyond our control and OVG's own control as well. The city had its chance to tear it down in the 90's but a cheap renovation was done keeping it intacted and now 24 years later it can't be touched.

What matters the most isn't the roof its what's going to be inside that building.

If it wasn't old enough to be consider historic and tore down, the design of exterior look of the arena and the roof would still had to have fit with the region and location. And some people would still complain on how it looks.
 

Pilky01

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Jan 30, 2012
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I love this. So I guess Seattle will be the first team to have unique interior in like 30 years?
 

gstommylee

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I love this. So I guess Seattle will be the first team to have unique interior in like 30 years?

What makes it rather bizzare is if you approach the arena from the south side as you enter the lobby you are actually standing above the south end seats and rink.
 

1989

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Aug 3, 2010
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Serious question - what happens in say, 40 years, when the arena is outdated and the team is crying for a new building? Will they do their damndest to keep the arena as-is, with heritage roof and all, or will they demolish the arena to cut down on unnecessary operating costs?

Calgary is going to demolish the Saddledome in short order after their new arena is up and running, and while it's not heritage-designated, nobody can argue it's not iconic (even if people may argue that it's an eyesore of design) as it was a primary Olympic Games site, as well as simply unique architecture. Just curious on what people would think of Seattle's situation.
 

Centrum Hockey

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Aug 2, 2018
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Serious question - what happens in say, 40 years, when the arena is outdated and the team is crying for a new building? Will they do their damndest to keep the arena as-is, with heritage roof and all, or will they demolish the arena to cut down on unnecessary operating costs?

Calgary is going to demolish the Saddledome in short order after their new arena is up and running, and while it's not heritage-designated, nobody can argue it's not iconic (even if people may argue that it's an eyesore of design) as it was a primary Olympic Games site, as well as simply unique architecture. Just curious on what people would think of Seattle's situation.
The Seattle Center project is a complete rebuild.It won’t be the same situation at the 90s remodel that kept most of the first version of the coliseum. And Made it intentionally so awful for hockey.
 

1989

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Aug 3, 2010
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The Seattle Center project is a complete rebuild.It won’t be the same situation at the 90s remodel that kept most of the first version of the coliseum. And Made it intentionally so awful for hockey.
I don't see how this answers my question at all. Whether it's a complete/partial rebuild or an entirely new building from the ground up, all buildings age themselves out of operational relevancy eventually.

Let me rephrase: Because the roof is a heritage piece, will Seattle encounter greater difficulty in the future with replacing/demloishing the arena when the building one day becomes obsolete?
 

GuelphStormer

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Mar 20, 2012
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Guelph, ON
I don't see how this answers my question at all. Whether it's a complete/partial rebuild or an entirely new building from the ground up, all buildings age themselves out of operational relevancy eventually.

Let me rephrase: Because the roof is a heritage piece, will Seattle encounter greater difficulty in the future with replacing/demloishing the arena when the building one day becomes obsolete?
I sense you are right, one can only retrofit an old structure so many times. I cannot speak on the Seattle situation, but Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto has historic designation and when push came to shove in the late '90s, they simply kept and repurposed the building and built a new arena a few miles away.
 

Legionnaire11

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Jul 12, 2007
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This building should last much longer than 40 years. There was a wave of arenas from about the 60's-90's that were hastily put up and not built to last. Those are most of the cities where we saw lengthy battles with the teams over building new arenas. Part of what came out of that is that newer designs (for the most part) are built to be much more sustainable over a longer period of time with planned renovations.

So if the new arena is properly designed and maintained, it should go well beyond 40 years. I wouldn't be surprised to see some newer arenas hit the century mark, well other than the surprise that i'd still be alive to see that ;)
 
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StreetHawk

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Sep 30, 2017
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I don't see how this answers my question at all. Whether it's a complete/partial rebuild or an entirely new building from the ground up, all buildings age themselves out of operational relevancy eventually.

Let me rephrase: Because the roof is a heritage piece, will Seattle encounter greater difficulty in the future with replacing/demloishing the arena when the building one day becomes obsolete?
Arenas from the mid 90’s in Boston, Philly, St. Louis have gotten updates costing 9 figures after 20 odd years.

So long as the structure is in place they can remodel it.
 

gstommylee

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Jan 31, 2012
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Note the whole building went from 364k square foot to 800k square foot. Easier to do upgrades to it when you have a big enough foot print.
 
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