December 2018
Ryan Fieldhouse and Walter Athletics Center Named Midwest Project of the Year
CHICAGO, IL - The new Ryan Fieldhouse and Walter Athletics Center, on the campus of Northwestern University, was named 2018 Project of the Year by Engineering News-Record (ENR) Midwest at the magazine’s annual Best Project Awards event. Built by Walsh Construction and joint venture partner Barton Marlow, the $270 million project is consistently referred to as a "game changer" for Northwestern athletics. The versatility of the 420,000-square-foot complex makes it one of the premier sports centers in the Big Ten Conference and college athletics.
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(All image credits: AJ Brown Imaging)
The 96,000-square-foot Ryan Fieldhouse rests on the shore of Lake Michigan with sweeping views of the lake and the Chicago skyline through 45-foot-tall floor-to-ceiling windows. A full-sized athletic field and 87-foot ceilings provide the university's football and Olympic sports teams with an impressive indoor practice and competition venue.
Walter Athletics Center is a training-focused venue that includes locker rooms, weight rooms, academic and medical services, video rooms and more to nearly 500 Northwestern student-athletes. Located in the heart of campus and adjacent to student dorms and academic buildings, Walter Athletics Center is the new central hub for University sports and events.
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“This was truly a historic project, not only for the university, but for all of the project team members worked seamlessly together to deliver this incredible facility,” said Jason Kopp, vice president of Walsh Construction.
Designed by the architecture firm of Perkins + Will, along with HOK, WSP, SmithGroup and Affiliated Engineers, the facility was designed and built to achieve LEED Gold BD+C certification.
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Ryan Fieldhouse and Walter Athletics Center took the top honor at the ENR Midwest Best Projects Awards, which celebrates and honors the building teams that create the best projects of 2018. Independent juries of industry leaders in design and construction from each of ENR's 10 regional editions judge the year’s best projects using five criteria, including safety, innovation and teamwork.
“Ryan Fieldhouse and Walter Athletic Center are not just the latest state-of-the-art student athlete facilities in the highly competitive higher education space,” stated Jeff Yoders, editor of ENR Midwest. “ENR Midwest’s Best Projects judges unanimously agreed that the innovative architectural, structural and civil design combined with a seamless collaborative delivery by the joint venture contractor resulted in nothing short of a masterpiece on a difficult site on Evanston’s lakefront.”