Ken Garff Red Zone at Rice-Eccles Stadium

Salt Lake City

Award of Merit

Submitted By: Layton Construction

Owners: DFCM/University of Utah

Lead Design Firms: VCBO, Populous

General Contractor: Layton Construction

Civil Engineer: Psomas

Structural Engineer: BHB Engineers

MEP Engineer: Colvin Engineering Associates

Mechanical: Archer Mechanical & Maintenance

Steel: SME Steel Contractors

Facing a stringent deadline to be ready for the first Utes football game of the 2021 season, the project team building this 6,000-seat addition to the stadium had to effectively manage a broad range of stakeholders to keep the project on track.

To ensure the project was on time and budget, OAC meetings were held whenever a new product was incorporated. Crews installed a small portion at a time, and the entire OAC team then reviewed it to identify solutions to any potential problems. This helped keep trade partners on schedule and ensured availability of any additional resources.

New ways of executing the team’s branding, such as wrapped doorways, required extensive coordination to ensure they complied with standards and matched the existing building’s aesthetic.

The new stadium expansion is heated by a geothermal well located just outside the building. This eliminated the need for water heaters throughout the new addition and allow the nearly 200 athletes participating in each game to take showers with the help of geothermal heating.

While the purpose of the expansion was to add nearly 6,000 seats, semi-trucks needed to be able to enter the stadium at times, so a 20-ft by 60-ft section of seats was designed and built to be removable. This section of seats can be picked up by forklift when needed, allowing the trucks to enter and exit without sacrificing any seating on game days.