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Award-Winning Design Yields Multi-purpose Athletic Field
SMMA's innovative engineering and sustainable design approaches provide Providence College an NCAA athletic field and parking facility that conserve space, water, and labor.
Providence College urgently needed a new NCAA-standard athletic field to meet a fast-growing demand for field sports, including lacrosse and field hockey. With no open space available on this urban campus, the client identified an existing parking lot on a steeply-sloped site as the only option for locating the new field. Because of the complex site, the team was required to address several technical and logistical challenges, as well as a mandate to control costs. The existing parking lot had to remain in use until the end of the spring semester, and so construction had to occur within a short four- to five- month schedule. Eliminating the site’s existing 100- space parking lot was not an option, as it would create a critical shortage of parking for the campus.
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The site was burdened by sharply sloping terrain, unsuitable soils, and layers of major underground utilities. Several structures -- including the campus power plant, an existing indoor in-ground pool, and various foundation systems -- bounded the site on all four sides. Horizontally, the site was wedged between two buildings along its long axis. Vertically, the elevation of the playing surface had to be low enough to be compatible with adjacent buildings, while the parking level had to be high enough to clear existing underground utilities, which could not be relocated. When all of the minimum required clearances for fire lanes, NCAA field requirements, and ADA access were considered, there was a tolerance of only three inches horizontally and eight inches vertically in which to construct the field. A series of large, costly, and conspicuous retaining walls would be needed to prevent negative impacts on surrounding structures. |
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SMMA, teamed with sports field consultant JJA Sports, responded with an award-winning solution: construct a level of parking for 110 cars under half of the field. The design consisted of a multipurpose synthetic turf sports surface constructed partially on-grade and partially on-structure. This solution required a complex structural system above the parking, plus an innovative subsurface design, to ensure a stable, low maintenance, long-life, and cost-efficient combined facility. A subsurface transition zone between the on-grade and on-structure portions of the field overcame potential drainage, waterproofing, and stability problems by utilizing a hinged slab, fixed on structure at one end and floating on grade at the other.
SMMA developed structural framing and foundation systems suited to both on-grade and on-structure environments. These prevented minor differential settlement that could bring the field out of compliance with NCAA and FIH rules, as well as affect the play of the game. A pre-cast form system increased surface durability, boosted erection speed, and provided a pleasant appearance. An unusual vertical drainage system through the turf mitigated the potential issues of variably frost-susceptible and well drained soils. An elaborate earth retention technique, consisting of a unique system of soil anchors, underpinned adjacent building foundations, required because of the tight site tolerance. |
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This artificial turf field, half on-grade and half on-structure, is the first successful project of its kind in the United States, and has earned a National Finalist Award for Engineering Excellence from the American Council of Engineering Companies and an ACEC Massachusetts Gold Award for Engineering Excellence.
The new field accepts increased wear and utilization; instead of the traditional 20 hours/week of use from a natural grass field, the synthetic field provides up to 60 hours of field use due to lower maintenance/ recovery time and an all-weather playing surface. The field requires only 25% of the labor and materials cost of a traditional field, a 75% savings in annual maintenance for the College. It reduces water consumption by 800,000 gallons per year, since it requires no irrigation and requires no fertilizers or pesticides, keeping them out of storm water and sewer systems. The resulting clean rain water passing through the drainage system below the field is captured and used for lawn irrigation elsewhere on campus.
The field also makes efficient use of land. Combining the parking and the athletic field into one site required a footprint of only two acres. Separate facilities would have required five to seven acres on this land-starved campus. |
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“Our field is one of the best quality turf fields in New England, and we’ve heard only positive comments from our team as well as our competition. It’s a facility that makes our team and the campus community very proud.”
Diane Madl, Head Coach
Providence Friars Field Hockey
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