TEXAS A&M INDOOR TRACK RA MURRAY FASKEN
Houston
Merit Award
Sent by: Austin commercial LP
OWNER The Texas A&M University System
LEADING DESIGN COMPANY PBK
GENERAL CONTRACTOR Austin commercial LP
CIVIL ENGINEERING PBK Sports
STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING Walter P Moore
MEP ENGINEERING Engineers Martínez Moore
This $41.25 million indoor sports facility spans 140,000 square feet and features a 200-meter permanently inclined track with a World Athletics-certified surface. The installation of the 12-degree oval, sprint lanes and dedicated spaces for throwing and jumping events required early coordination with an Italian track manufacturer. To accommodate the elevated track surface and its depressed slab areas, the concrete contractor constructed floating forms on a hollow-shaped structural slab, planning the installation to maintain super-flat tolerances.
The facility’s maximum interior height of 72 feet added an additional layer of complexity when installing the timing and sound systems, which would require elevations of 65 feet. But crews had to be careful moving these pieces of equipment onto the cardboard slab, taking time to ensure the slab maintained its structural integrity.
A tension fabric structure, consisting of a pre-engineered metal building wrapped inside and out with ExxoTec PVC fabric cladding, serves as the building envelope. This eliminated the need for interior columns, providing expansive clear spaces.
Crews installed perimeter foundations before raising the tension fabric structure above the ground, with the roof in place. This allowed complex interior concrete work to be carried out regardless of weather conditions. Simultaneously, the Italian track, which was manufactured overseas and shipped to the US, was put into operation by the Italian installation crew.
