Sustainability & Performance Add to Utah Olympic Oval Appeal
At the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, speed skaters set world and Olympic records in eight of the ten events. Those impressive results were in part possible because of a variety of performance-enhancing building features – which instantly made the Salt Lake City Olympics the focal point of widespread professional interest in the design industry.
Apart from aesthetic and environmental considerations, improving athletic performance was the primary goal of Gillies Stransky Brems Smith Architects (GSBS), the Salt Lake City firm that designed the Utah Olympic Oval in Kearns, Utah. The challenge was to erect an energy-efficient structure with what The Salt Lake Tribune subsequently claimed was “the fastest ice on earth.” The design team developed high-performance features inside the Oval as well as on the roof to create a closed system in which athletes could compete in ideal conditions.
One of the critically important factors in maintaining a speedier ice was the Oval’s low, white roof which helped reduce the volume of the building and the energy needed to condition the venue. “Using a white surface gave us the reflectivity we needed to reduce both heat gain within the building and the potential for the urban heat island effect,” said GSBS’ David Brems, the building’s principal designer. The temperature and design considerations led GSBS to select a single-ply thermoplastic vinyl membrane manufactured by Sarnafil (Canton, Mass.). The company also provided a unique palette of custom colors from which to produce the Olympic logo on top of the roof.
Because the roof is not supported by a traditional truss structure, the Utah Oval stands at only 55 feet high, compared to Nagano’s 100-foot-high and Calgary’s 80-foot-high speed skating ovals. Above the five-acre roof, suspension cables similar to those of the Golden Gate Bridge contribute as much to the Oval’s energy efficiency as to its visual presence. However, the cable suspension support system presented some unique challenges – and the vinyl membrane turned out a perfect material to meet them.
Vinyl’s proven flexibility, durability and resilience to extreme temperatures made it possible for the roof to flex up to 18 inches in each direction, which was a prerequisite in a climate where high winds and heavy snow are a usual occurrence. In order to create a watertight seal on the roof pierced by support cables, the designers used a knife plate welded to the beam below to which the cables above attached (and so did not have to pass through the membrane, which was affixed to the knife plate). Although the membrane was shielded from the elements by a hood, the design team hot-air welded a sheet metal deck to it to create drip edges, counter flashing and terminators in order to achieve a waterproof seal around the cable-support towers on the edge of the roof.
Because of its ability to remain cool in hot weather, the white vinyl membrane also helped ensure the LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) rating by the U.S. Green Building Council. The LEED rating system evaluates environmental performance from a whole-building perspective over a building’s life cycle. The sustainable architecture techniques used in the Oval project made it one of the first 13 LEED-rated buildings in the world – a rare distinction which reflects the architects’ comprehensive design strategy and appreciation of the environment.
“The best visual choice ended up being the right environmental choice,” concluded Brems. In the end, the Utah Olympic Oval design team showed that achieving aesthetics, performance and sustainability with one-tenth of the budget for the previously built enclosed oval in Nagano was possible.