Recreational / Entertainment

Owner:

State of Louisiana

Design:

Case Design Group

Size:

40,000 square feet

Budget:

Combined: $20,900,000

Completion:

December 1995, March 1996, December 1996

Louisiana Superdome Renovations

A New Orleans Landmark for over 25 years, the Louisiana Superdome welcomed Woodward Design+Build to be part of the upgrade team for the next quarter century.

Seating: The original high level 35,000 seats were functional plastic, but their replacement time had come. All of the seats were located from 80 to 180 feet above the ground. This meant that at 24 pounds each, we had to handle over 1,600,000 pounds of seats and hardware, all by manual labor. As this was not an identical one-for-one replacement, extensive time had to be devoted six months before the work started, to ensure that the new seating configuration would match the seating manifest from which tickets were printed

Gate A-A6: Woodward’s design and construction team gave all patrons full vertical transportation to their seats, with 8 new escalators, 4 extended elevators, and 4 new elevators. Two new mid-level concourses, complete with additional rest rooms and food services, were constructed between the existing seats and the skin of the building. Construction of these two concourses involved new major structural numbers, decking and complete overlay with concrete, all over 120 feet above the playing field! Completing the upgrade was a new Main Entrance featuring granite, glass block, mirrors, and box offices.

4-Corners: The challenge was for the Collegiate Final Four Championship. The Dome needed more “close to the action” seating. Woodward Design+Build conceived and built 24 seating stands, which could be folded and moved, and then expanded to provide over 3,000 additional seats away from the basketball court.