Rogers Place arena, the new home of the Edmonton Oilers NHL hockey team, has won the 2017 Canadian Institute of Steel Construction (CISC) Alberta Steel Award of Excellence in the collaboration category.
The award was presented in May 2017 in front of 365 guests at a gala held at the Expo Centre in Edmonton Northlands.
The joint winners of the collaboration award are the City of Edmonton (owner): Canam Group Inc. (CISC erector and detailer); HOK (architect); Dialogue (CISC engineer); PCL Construction (general contractor); Alco, comprising joint venture partners LPR Construction and Whitemud Ironworks Limited (erector); Walters Group Inc. (CISC erector); and Thornton Tomasetti (engineer).
The project used a lot of steel — 9,000 tons in total. And some of the pieces of steel were very large. For example, the truss that sits directly over centre ice is 338 feet long and weighs 400 tons.
"The entire arena superstructure above the ice rink level is framed in steel," said Chris Christoforou, principal of Thornton Tomasetti. "The rink level and the parking level below that are framed in concrete. The adjacent Winter Garden and community ice rink, which are part of the project, are also framed entirely in steel."
The project, which is located in the Ice District sports and entertainment area in downtown Edmonton, has a number of features that make it special, Christoforou says.
"The first is the sheer size of the arena and its large, spacious volume," he said. "Rogers Place is much larger than other arenas of similar seating capacity."
Also worthy of note is the Winter Garden.
"It’s a multipurpose grand hall about 250 feet long by 120 feet wide and it’s an integral part of the arena’s structure."
The Winter Garden spans wide and busy 104th Avenue, and connects the arena to the other side of the thoroughfare like an oversize pedestrian bridge.
"It serves as a gathering place for pre- and post-game celebrations, for concert events and other similar functions," Christoforou said.
Finally, the outside appearance of Rogers Place is particularly eye-catching.
"The exterior facade has a complex geometry of glass and aluminum panels, with many curved surfaces and roof eves," said Christoforou.
Designing and building a project of the size and complexity of Rogers Place presented a number of architectural and structural challenges.
"It took a complete team effort from us, the project’s structural engineers, the architect and the steel contractor to address and solve the challenges," he said.
Thornton Tomasetti’s engineers, in conjunction with the architectural designers, did parametric modeling studies to find the best arrangement of the arena’ mullions and glass panes in order to construct the curved facade in the most cost-effective way.
"The façade contractor was engaged early in the project in a design-assist capacity," said Christoforou. "He worked with the architect to come up with the best and most aesthetically pleasing ways to connect the various façade elements to the supporting structure."
Another challenge was controlling the large thermal stresses that the Winter Garden structure would have generated and placed on the arena’s structure. "We let the bridge structure bear on slide bearings at one end so that it could move freely along its longitudinal axis, thus relieving the stresses," Christoforou said.
The arena’s long-span roof solution came about after several workshops and problem-solving meetings between the engineers and the steel fabricator’s erectors and engineers.
"It was a truly collaborative effort that resulted in a very efficient, economical and simple to construct roof," Christoforou said. "Our solution not only met the architect’s vision, it also served all the functions that an arena roof is supposed to."
Construction of Rogers Place began in early 2014, with the hockey arena opening its doors in the fall of 2016 for the start of the NHL season.
Thornton Tomasetti of Newark, NJ was the prime structural engineering consultant on the project. It was assisted by Dialog, an Edmonton-based integrated design firm.
Rogers Place was one of six 2017 CISC Alberta Steel Design Award winners.
Other first-place finishers were the Emerald Hills Leisure Centre in Sherwood Park, in the building communities category; the St. Louis Hotel in Calgary (sustainability); Schulich School of Engineering redevelopment and expansion at the University of Calgary (engineering); and Studio Bell in Calgary (architectural and steel edge).
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