Award of Merit, Sports/Entertainment: The PIT - University of New Mexico Arena, Albuquerque, N.M.
Listed among the top 20 sports venues nationwide, this landmark's reinvention was a formidable assignment. The project team retained the magic of the historic facility while adding features that allow it to compete with other arenas. The project called for renovations totaling 150,000 sq ft, plus an 84,000-sq-ft addition. Iconic aspects of the original design were wrapped in a new "crystal box," allowing them to become key features in the revamped stadium. The complicated counter-curved superstructure of both the roof and walls was defined within a BIM model for clarity. Most remarkably, an entire basketball season was played in the facility during construction.
Key Players
Owner: Board of Regents, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, N.M.
Contractor: Flintco West Inc., Albuquerque, N.M. Architect/Civil Engineer: Molzen Corbin, Albuquerque, N.M. Structural Engineer: Chavez-Grieves, Albuquerque, N.M. MEP Engineer: Bridgers & Paxton, Albuquerque, N.M. Submitted by: Molzen Corbin
