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The adaptive reuse of Chicago's Soldier Field tackled complex geometry and steel construction innovations in one of the NFL's fastest constructed stadiums.
The project required fitting a full-size, modern stadium into a 600-foot-wide space within a 20-month schedule. The architectural solution was an asymmetrical
design with general admission seats on one side of the stadium and stacked luxury suites atop two cantilevered club decks on the other. That configuration, a
first in NFL stadiums, saved enough space to fit a 61,500-seat stadium inside the colonnades.
To accelerate the steel fabrication and erection process, Thornton Tomasetti, in a joint decision with the project team members, adopted Tekla Structures
3D modeling software. Using Tekla Structures, valuable time was saved and costly miscues from design to fabrication and installation were averted.
In honoring Soldier Field as its 2003 Overall Project of the Year, Midwest Construction noted the difficult geometry, the time
savings by designing in three dimensions, and the teamwork required to get the project completed. Faced with the challenges of a spectacular design,
site restrictions and a compressed construction schedule, the Thornton Tomasetti team responded with innovative engineering and the latest technology.
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