Building Excellence for the Student-Athlete, Phase I

[SHOCKvalue]

Construction will commence shortly on Phase I of the baseball facility upgrades, possibly before the MVC tourney is even finished.

Two items I thought SN would have some interest in:


#1 Exterior design of the indoor practice facility-

WSU had the architecture firm of note on the project, Schaefer Johnson Cox Frey, work up two completely different exterior elevation designs- mostly related to roof design. One is the the design you all have seen in the PR material produced months ago. The other is a mono-sloped roof. The two designs are completely public knowledge- as you could pick up a set of the plans yourself down at Wichita Blueprint- but they have received no press, nor press releases. IMO, Shocker fans, alumni, and boosters all deserve to see what these designs look like, so they can have some voice of influence if they so choose, through whatever avenue they desire. The two designs look drastically different, and the price differential between the two is somewhere between 0.5%-2% of total project cost, so the added/deducted expense is basically moot.

Here are the actual plan PDF's regarding the two options, to give you some idea of the two looks:

Traditional Ridged Roof (the one seen in all the current promo material):

http://www.mediafire.com/?m1z4nhzgwwm

http://www.mediafire.com/?3yddzjgjdnz

Mono-sloped Roof (the option that will cost only a fraction more):

http://www.mediafire.com/?mymym2zzjmw

http://www.mediafire.com/?tz23m5nymou

If you have a strong preference towards one of these designs, then make it known to the powers that be. Personally, I think the mono-sloped roof looks worlds better than the cheap, ridged, vanilla steel building look, but it's really not for me to decide. Both options have been bid, and a general contractor selected, but as far as I know, no final decision on the roof yet. There's still time to input your $.02.


#2 Infield Turf Replacement-

So we all know that the turf didn't get replaced during this last off-season, even though the funding for it was secure. An extremely solid source, and someone close to the program, informed me that this was due to Gene's indecision concerning going back with old school Astro-Turf (yes, really... you might recall this fact from a thread some months back) versus the newer style Field-Turf (ala K-State, Louisville, etc.). Basically, ol' Mean Gene couldn't make up his mind in time to complete whichever installation necessary before season's play. Interestingly, the indoor practice facility will have Field-Turf, NOT Astro-Turf. I don't know what indication this shows on Gene's final decision for the Tyler Field infield (if it's even been made yet), but it is a fact.


Do what you want with the info in this thread, I just thought it important to be known.

[Shirley Schmidt]

Thanks for the update.

I think that they both look like machine sheds but If it was my decision I would take the Gabel / Traditional elevation. I think it looks best from the parking area to the west and from the outfield hill to the east.

I would turn it so the gable ends were the north and south elevations.

Who was low bidder for the General Contractor on the project?

[SHOCKvalue]

I don't really want to step on any toes, so I'll let the University divulge that info at the time and place they prefer, but suffice to say it won't be the low bidder's first time doing major work at the Eck.

[SpanglerFan316]

There is a funny story related to this ... but I can't tell it to you. :lol:

[SHOCKvalue]

There is a funny story related to this ... but I can't tell it to you. :lol:

Awesome!

Thanks for contributing! Cookie and gold star for you.

[CharlieHog]

Here you guys go, for those that don't want to dl the huge pdfs:

[SHOCKvalue]

Thanks CH, but you need the "huge pdf" to see what's going on, if you want to see the details. Your cropping cuts out 2 of 4 elevations on each image, as well as much more info.

These tiffs are generally printed on 30" x 42" paper, and even then they're sometimes hard to decipher.

[Downtown Shocker Brown]

I personally prefer the lower one everything equal.

[CharlieHog]

Thanks CH, but you need the "huge pdf" to see what's going on, if you want to see the details. Your cropping cuts out 2 of 4 elevations on each image, as well as much more info.

These tiffs are generally printed on 30" x 42" paper, and even then they're sometimes hard to decipher.

I figured most people would just care about the look, not the details (if it were an Arkansas project I would only care about the look, not knowing what I was looking at otherwise).

Carry on. :D

[KC Shox]

Thanks CH, but you need the "huge pdf" to see what's going on, if you want to see the details. Your cropping cuts out 2 of 4 elevations on each image, as well as much more info.

These tiffs are generally printed on 30" x 42" paper, and even then they're sometimes hard to decipher.

I figured most people would just care about the look, not the details (if it were an Arkansas project I would only care about the look, not knowing what I was looking at otherwise).

Carry on. :D

Thanks to the both of you, instant gratification provided by Hog, in-depth details provided by Bobby.

[Hill Sitter]

Does anyone know of a firm date for ground breaking ?

[1972Shocker]

I also would prefer the traditional ridged/gable roof line.

How much of a beating will the roof and siding take from foul balls?

[KC Shox]

I also would prefer the traditional ridged/gable roof line.

How much of a beating will the roof and siding take from foul balls?

Aside from that, in Kansas, metal roofing looks like Edward James Olmos' face with all the hail we get. I'm hoping the roof will be the sloped version. The traditional gable roof with steep slopes would show the hail and baseball dents more than the other one.

*

[RoyalShock]

Eby Construction won the project. Work to begin this month.

http://wichita.bizjournals.com/wichita/stories/2009/05/04/daily11.html?surround=lfn

[SpanglerFan316]

There is a funny story related to this ... but I can't tell it to you. :lol:

Awesome!

Thanks for contributing! Cookie and gold star for you.

I'm still waiting for my cookie!! ;-) :D