Construction Of Assembly Hall (Champaign)
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State Farm Center The State Farm Center is a large dome-shaped 15,544-seat indoor arena located in Champaign, Illinois, owned and operated by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The arena hosts games for the Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball, ...
, originally known as the Assembly Hall, at the
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United States. Established in 1867, it is the f ...
consisted of building a huge
indoor arena An arena is a large enclosed venue, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, Music, musical performances or Sport, sporting events. It comprises a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for specta ...
with a concrete
dome A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...
whose center height is above the center floor, and which weighs 10 million pounds."To Cover This Assembly Bowl: A 400-ft Prestressed Saucer."
Engineering News-Record The ''Engineering News-Record'' (widely known as ''ENR'') is an American weekly magazine that provides news, analysis, data and opinion for the construction industry worldwide. It is widely regarded as one of the construction industry's most au ...
1 June 1961: 32+. Print.
The building is considered an
engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...
marvel because of the unique method used to build the
concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of aggregate bound together with a fluid cement that cures to a solid over time. It is the second-most-used substance (after water), the most–widely used building material, and the most-manufactur ...
roof A roof (: roofs or rooves) is the top covering of a building, including all materials and constructions necessary to support it on the walls of the building or on uprights, providing protection against rain, snow, sunlight, extremes of tempera ...
. State Farm Center, the first-ever
concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of aggregate bound together with a fluid cement that cures to a solid over time. It is the second-most-used substance (after water), the most–widely used building material, and the most-manufactur ...
dome A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...
arena, hosts the campus's teams in men's and
women's A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functional uteruses ...
basketball, numerous concerts and other events. It holds sentimental value for numerous
alumni Alumni (: alumnus () or alumna ()) are former students or graduates of a school, college, or university. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for groups of women, and alums (: alum) or alumns (: alumn) as gender-neutral alternatives. Th ...
and fans alike and attracts attention for its design and construction."Assembly Hall at Champaign, Illinois." Sports Stadiums. Web. 13 October 2009. . The construction of the Assembly Hall was conceived to provide UIUC with needed space for ceremonies and athletic events. The university’s population had outgrown the largest building on campus at that time, the Auditorium (later rededicated Foellinger Auditorium), and desired one building that could hold the entire university class."Assembly Hall." Welcome to the University of Illinois Campus Tours Site. Web. 13 October 2009. . The design of the new building, by
Max Abramovitz Max Abramovitz (May 23, 1908 – September 12, 2004) was an American architect. He was best known for his work with the New York City firm Harrison & Abramovitz. Life Abramovitz was the son of Romanian Jewish immigrant parents. He graduat ...
, called for the construction of one of the world’s largest edge-supported structure. The assembly hall was completed in 1963, and was dedicated on Honors Day, Friday May 3. The arena was renamed State Farm Center in 2013 after the Illinois-based insurance company purchased the naming rights to the facility for $60 million over 30 years. The sale of naming rights provided a significant portion of the funding for a planned renovation of the facility.


Planning

Plans to build a new
student center A student center (or student centre) is a type of building found on university and some high school campuses. In the United States, such a building may also be called a student union, student commons, or union. The term "student union" refers mos ...
began before 1958. The student enrollment at the University of Illinois was growing tremendously through the years and the school's Building Committee wanted to plan for future growth. The student enrollment was 18,813 in 1958-58 and was predicted to reach 24,500 by 1965 and 34,000 by 1970. The university's Building Committee was quoted by The News-Gazette, saying, "The University of Illinois has not added a foot of space for organized student activities and recreation since the
Illini Union The Illini Union, located at 1401 West Green Street in Urbana, Illinois, on the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, is the student union for the University. The building was dedicated on November 1, 1941, as the campus's ...
Building was constructed in 1940-41. The enrollment at that time was slightly over 12,000 and the Union, fine though it is, is inadequate now and for expected enrollments in the future." The main concern at the time was how to pay for the building's $8.7 million price tag. The university administration decided to fund the project through a student fee of $20 a semester and issue bonds. The plans for Assembly Hall called for a very large structure with no interior supports. The project was overseen by Ray C. Dickerson, president of Felmley-Dickerson Co. who hired architects
Harrison & Abramovitz Harrison & Abramovitz (also known as Harrison, Fouilhoux & Abramovitz; Harrison, Abramovitz, & Abbe; and Harrison, Abramovitz, & Harris) was an American architectural firm based in New York and active from 1941 through 1976. The firm was a partner ...
and
structural engineering Structural engineering is a sub-discipline of civil engineering in which structural engineers are trained to design the 'bones and joints' that create the form and shape of human-made Structure#Load-bearing, structures. Structural engineers also ...
firm Ammann & Whitney, of
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."A New Machine Prestresses a Folded-Plate Concrete Dome."
Engineering News-Record The ''Engineering News-Record'' (widely known as ''ENR'') is an American weekly magazine that provides news, analysis, data and opinion for the construction industry worldwide. It is widely regarded as one of the construction industry's most au ...
25 May 1962: 44-46. Print.
Max Abramovitz Max Abramovitz (May 23, 1908 – September 12, 2004) was an American architect. He was best known for his work with the New York City firm Harrison & Abramovitz. Life Abramovitz was the son of Romanian Jewish immigrant parents. He graduat ...
was helped by his University of Illinois teacher Louise Woodroofe, with design, who recommended circus-inspired features such as wide entry door at the base and ceiling installation for rigging a trapeze. Edward G. Maliskas (U of I Engineering, 1950) was Felmley-Dickerson's on-site construction superintendent. The building would hold 16,000 permanent seats with an additional 2,000 seats if necessary.


Construction

The construction of Assembly Hall followed the process used for building any other building. The construction crews first built the
foundation Foundation(s) or The Foundation(s) may refer to: Common uses * Foundation (cosmetics), a skin-coloured makeup cream applied to the face * Foundation (engineering), the element of a structure which connects it to the ground, and transfers loads f ...
, then built the walls and supports for the roof, and, finally, built the roof. The Assembly Hall became known as an engineering marvel because of the unique method used to construct its roof. At its opening, and for the next few years, it was the largest dome structure in North America, a title that was retained until the
Houston Astrodome The NRG Astrodome, formerly and also known as the Houston Astrodome or simply the Astrodome, was the world's first multi-purpose, domed sports stadium, located in Houston, Texas, United States. It seated around 50,000 fans, with a record atte ...
opened in 1965.


Foundation, walls and supports

According to the article "To Cover This Assembly Bowl: A Prestressed Saucer" by Engineering News-Record, the total weight of Assembly Hall is carried by 48 massive
buttress A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient (typically Gothic) buildings, as a means of providing support to act ...
es to a wide and thick concrete ring foundation, with a radius. The construction crews first dug down from ground level and poured the concrete ring on high-density, hard gray
clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...
. The center floor of the stadium is below ground level, however the contractors decided not to excavate all of the dirt before the roof was constructed. This decision gave the construction crews more surface area to work on, and decreased the height of
scaffolding Scaffolding, also called scaffold or staging, is a temporary structure used to support a work crew and materials to aid in the construction, maintenance and repair of buildings, bridges and all other human-made structures. Scaffolds are widely u ...
used when forming the concrete roof. After the roof was completed and the scaffolding was removed, the rest of the soil was excavated through the building's entrances. By building the structure into the ground, the top row is only above the ground line. The construction of Assembly Hall required excavation of 60,000 cu yd of soil. Most of the foundation: ring footing, 48 buttresses, and columns and walls of the circular concourse, was completed in 1960.


Construction of the dome roof

Construction of the roof started with pouring the concrete. After the concrete finished curing, construction crews post-tensioned the concrete roof to its final strength.


Process of pouring concrete

After the buttresses were completed, the construction crews could then begin building the
falsework Falsework consists of temporary structures used in construction to support a permanent structure until its construction is sufficiently advanced to support itself. For arches, this is specifically called centering. Falsework includes temporary ...
on which the concrete would harden. While the concrete was drying, the roof was supported by a central steel tower, the buttresses around the periphery, a circular timber tower about from the center, and two movable timber scaffolds at the midpoints of and -span joists. These supports totaled at of wooden scaffolding. To aid in construction of the roof, a temporary steel tower was erected in the center of the stadium. As mentioned in the foundation section, the contractors decided not to fully excavate the interior of the building in order to reduce the required height of the steel tower and allow more surface area for construction crews. This decision decreased the tower height to only thus decreased cost. According to the article "To Cover this Assembly Bowl: A 400-ft Prestressed Saucer, the roof was cast in 24 segments of 15° each. Each segment of the roof is 52 feet wide at the rim, and 6.5 feet wide at the center. The central ring beam, or very center of the dome, is a heavily reinforced 4 feet thick concrete slab that contains 170 cubic yards of lightweight concrete. The entire roof used 2,880 cubic yards of light weight concrete that weighed only 105 pounds per cubic feet." Once the concrete had finished curing and dried, the top of the roof was painted with three applications of plastic material for water and weatherproofing.


Post-tensioning the concrete

The
dome A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...
shape of the roof, by design, causes both vertical and horizontal reactions or
forces In physics, a force is an influence that can cause an object to change its velocity unless counterbalanced by other forces. In mechanics, force makes ideas like 'pushing' or 'pulling' mathematically precise. Because the magnitude and directi ...
on the buildings walls and monoliths. In order to make Max Abramovitz design a reality, a relatively new post-tensioning technique was required. The post-tensioning techniques required for the construction of the Assembly hall were first developed for
Titan Titan most often refers to: * Titan (moon), the largest moon of Saturn * Titans, a race of deities in Greek mythology Titan or Titans may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional entities Fictional locations * Titan in fiction, fictiona ...
missile base construction. Felmley-Dickerson Co sub-contracted Preload Co. of New York City to post-tension a concrete ring girder around the perimeter of the dome. Preload Co. borrowed a special horizontal-wheeled tractor from the missile silo work to wind the steel wire around the dome. The wrapping machine required some slight modifications for this project. In order to post-tension the concrete roof, the construction crews used the wrapping machine to wrap the edge of the roof in miles of steel wire and pull the wires extremely tight. The effect is similar to a rubber band. The rubber band (the steel wire) wants to constrict into a smaller circle, while the roof of Assembly Hall pushes radially outward. The two forces are designed to cancel each other out. In order to create the required stress, the wire was pulled through a steel die that reduced its diameter. The first 75% of steel wire was pulled through a 0.211-in.-dia die to create a 130,000-psi stress. The last 25% of steel wire was pulled through a 0.214-in.-dia die to create a 120,000-psi stress. The wrapping machine was propelled by a 200-hp motor, along an endless chain long around the circumference of the dome. Average speed of the machine was 8 mph. As the wrapping machine traveled around the dome, 2,467 times, the wires were placed in 44 vertical rows and each row decreased from 77 wires on the innermost row to 37 wires for the outer row. Each row was separated by a in. wide and in. thick steel bar. These spacers were used in order allow each wire to be fully encase in grout, thus creating a permanent bond. The construction crews torpedo-spliced spools of wire together to create of one continuous wire. Torpedo splicing consists of two half-sections screwed together at the center, with each section containing spring-loaded jaws that engaged the wire. The more tension put into the wires, the tighter they grip. After all the post-tensioning was completed the 85 sq. in. of total cross-sectional area of wrapped steel was fully encased in 200 cu yd of grout, creating a permanent bond. The post-tensioning of the concrete worked so well that the 10 million pound roof was raised 2 in. off of the center tower by the wire structure when tensioning was finished. The post-tensioning of the roof was completed on March 16.


References


External links


Assembly Hall at Champaign, IllinoisAssembly Hall Construction , University of Illinois Archivesuitours.ncsa.uiuc.eduHistoric Concrete Contractor Projects - Assembly Hall - University of Illinois"UIHistories: Buildings: Assembly Hall." UIHistories Project: A History of the University of Illinois by Kalev Leetaru
{{DEFAULTSORT:Construction Of Assembly Hall (Champaign) Buildings and structures of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Buildings and structures in Champaign, Illinois