Our built environment has a lot of landmarks, but it soon will have a one-of-a-kind structure.
It’s the Finish Tower at Nathan Benderson Park, where judges, cameras and timing equipment will pick the winners of rowing competitions.
Guy Peterson, design architect for the new Finish Tower at Nathan Benderson Park, discusses his concept for the building at a recent groundbreaking ceremony. Staff photo / Harold Bubil; 8-20-2015.
The sleek modernist tower also will house spectators and VIPs. When the World Rowing Championships come to Benderson Park in 2017, the structure will be packed with people — very few of them sitting down.
Ground was broken on the building on Aug. 20 (actual construction will start in September), and updated renderings were revealed by design architect Guy Peterson and the architect of record, Fawley Bryant Architects. Damien Blumetti of Guy Peterson OFA also worked on the design.
Clearly, some special design challenges had to be met on the manmade island in the middle of the borrow pit-turned racing lake at the world-class facility, just south of the University Town Center mall.
“This is a unique site, on an island, and rowing is the major event,” said Peterson. “But they are going to have other events on the island, could be a concert or other things, so the building has a 360-degree view of the whole park. When you are in the building, you can see everything that is going on. Especially, you need to be able to see down the lake as the rowers are coming, and not just when they get there.”
In the era of photo finishes and electronic timing, judges are still used.
“There are cameras, but a series of judges sit in tandem on little bleachers in there,” Peterson said. “So the human eye is still involved. There’s a wire that is outside the tower, they sight their vision with the wire and the finish line, and the judges see that.”
Architect Jedd Heap of Fawley Bryant said the tower plans are the result of “a great collaboration” with Peterson.
The rendering of the Finish Tower at the Benderson Park rowing facility, by Guy Peterson OFA and Fawley Bryant Architects. Staff photo / Harold Bubil; 8-20-2015.
“We are the architect of record and worked with Guy’s office to get his vision built and figure out all the nuts and bolts, working with Wilson Structural to get it to stand up,” Heap said. “We wanted to create his vision and keep it in mind as we were making all those decisions.”
“Not only did they follow the vision,” Peterson interjected, “but they made it better as we went along with new ideas.”
The multipurpose building has five levels, but it seems as tall as seven stories from a structural viewpoint because of 11-foot ceiling heights. It will stand on pilings driven to bedrock beneath the manmade island in the middle of Benderson Park’s lake. It will be built to withstand 140 mph winds, with impact-resistant, insulated, low-e glass.
“We have $1 million of glass in the building. It is going to be spectacular,” Heap said.
Each floor will have about 1,800 square feet, for a total of about 7,400 feet of air-conditioned space and 26,000 total with the exterior viewing areas.
The cost to build has not been determined, but the structure should be complete in time for the Olympic time trials in April 2016.
As many people will be standing during races, there will be plenty of guardrails for safety.
