It's public now, here's an article in the Thresher with more details and commentary from the Athletic Dept and students.

http://www.ricethresher.org/article/2019...orts-teams

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A bit frightening that we're using "local middle schools" as a funding source for athletic facilities.

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This is downright hideous aesthetically. We may as well just say f-it, throw away any master plan and go full on Houston-no-planning-or-zoning if we build this.

Reading the Thresher is a great reminder of just how annoying Rice students are sometimes. I forget having been off campus for awhile now.

Rice- people are going to donate a building for indoor athletics use, primarily used for football but open to everyone.

Students- GENDER EQUITY is a problem, this building inside a bike track might get run into? Logistics of working around 1 day of the year (already addressed by Rick Melo), security in GB lot (wouldn’t this help that?)

(02-20-2019 09:03 AM)Antarius Wrote:  This is downright hideous aesthetically. We may as well just say f-it, throw away any master plan and go full on Houston-no-planning-or-zoning if we build this.

I think the master plan has IM fields out there so this at least is the correct purpose. I’ve heard Rugby has trouble even booking IM fields now since they’ve slowly been replaced with buildings.

(02-20-2019 09:05 AM)cr11owl Wrote:  Reading the Thresher is a great reminder of just how annoying Rice students are sometimes. I forget having been off campus for awhile now.

Rice- people are going to donate a building for indoor athletics use, primarily used for football but open to everyone.

Students- GENDER EQUITY is a problem, this building inside a bike track might get run into? Logistics of working around 1 day of the year (already addressed by Rick Melo), security in GB lot (wouldn’t this help that?)

+1. My thoughts exactly.

(02-20-2019 08:52 AM)chrisc Wrote:  A bit frightening that we're using "local middle schools" as a funding source for athletic facilities.

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You’d prefer that we use them as a LABOR source?

(02-20-2019 09:05 AM)cr11owl Wrote:  Reading the Thresher is a great reminder of just how annoying Rice students are sometimes. I forget having been off campus for awhile now.

Rice- people are going to donate a building for indoor athletics use, primarily used for football but open to everyone.

Students- GENDER EQUITY is a problem, this building inside a bike track might get run into? Logistics of working around 1 day of the year (already addressed by Rick Melo), security in GB lot (wouldn’t this help that?)

I laughed at the gender equity comment - if this is being primarily funded by outside donors, Rice should take the money and run. Plus, women's swimming, soccer, track, volleyball, tennis have all had significant upgrades to their facilities in the last decade - football had not until the Patterson Center came along, and that is a multi-sport facility already. If alumni want to donate a new facility to the swim team every 5 years, I wouldn't want football complaining about their lack of upgrades, either.

This is also a great example of lack of institutional memory - my guess is the swimmer really didn't understand the conditions before she got to Rice (but it is concerning that swimming seems to have facilities that don't work properly on a regular basis).

I also don't get the security comment - unless this thing wouldn't have any exterior lights, I'd assume that this would make the parking lot more well-lit.

"...and loss of parking spots."

LOL, is that lot ever full when there isn't a Filipino Festival going on?

(02-20-2019 09:32 AM)loki_the_bubba Wrote:  "...and loss of parking spots."

LOL, is that lot ever full when there isn't a Filipino Festival going on?

It isn't used for parking - the track is roped off from traffic and parking the vast majority of the time.

But, they are correct that it will limit parking on game days.
Eventually, the people who get to park near the stadium for a game will be paying for it in the Med Center.

My first-born spent her first year at UT in Jester West, and parked in the multi-level garage nearby, except for game days, when they kicked all the students' cars out so that football fans could park there.

Lack of nearby parking is just another of the factors that makes it difficult to put butts-in-seats at home games.
Gone are the days with a sea of cars spreading east from the stadium to (nearly) the RMC.

BTW, the dome depicted is at Columbia University, and sits atop their soccer field.
Someone pasted an OER on it, but I doubt we're getting the Harlem River, the Broadway Bridge, or the hospital as part of the package.

(02-20-2019 09:52 AM)Grungy Wrote:  

(02-20-2019 09:32 AM)loki_the_bubba Wrote:  "...and loss of parking spots."

LOL, is that lot ever full when there isn't a Filipino Festival going on?

It isn't used for parking - the track is roped off from traffic and parking the vast majority of the time.

But, they are correct that it will limit parking on game days.
Eventually, the people who get to park near the stadium for a game will be paying for it in the Med Center.

My first-born spent her first year at UT in Jester West, and parked in the multi-level garage nearby, except for game days, when they kicked all the students' cars out so that football fans could park there.

Lack of nearby parking is just another of the factors that makes it difficult to put butts-in-seats at home games.
Gone are the days with a sea of cars spreading east from the stadium to (nearly) the RMC.

Kicking students off campus on gameday parking is pretty common at the big schools. Imagine how that would be received at Rice! Last night for baseball I’m guessing most of West Lot was already filled with night students because there were maybe 2000 people at the game and parking was already using the smaller overfill lots.

Who’s ready to put their name on a west lot garage?

Why not put it on the soccer field?
That's what Columbia did.

Scheduling conflicts with the teams that use the soccer field?
Travel time to and from Patterson?
(It's irrelevant in this day and age, but the football team used to dress out in Autry, and walk to HRS to practice.)

Most Rice students are a bunch of cry babies.

(02-20-2019 10:11 AM)cr11owl Wrote:  Who’s ready to put their name on a west lot garage?

I am!

(02-20-2019 10:17 AM)Grungy Wrote:  Why not put it on the soccer field?
That's what Columbia did.

Scheduling conflicts with the teams that use the soccer field?
Travel time to and from Patterson?
(It's irrelevant in this day and age, but the football team used to dress out in Autry, and walk to HRS to practice.)

Soccer likes to play of real grass so it doesn’t really make sense to put it over there.

(02-20-2019 10:01 AM)Grungy Wrote:  BTW, the dome depicted is at Columbia University, and sits atop their soccer field.
Someone pasted an OER on it, but I doubt we're getting the Harlem River, the Broadway Bridge, or the hospital as part of the package.

Yeah, I was gonna say that the rendering is completely useless, so I have no idea why we couldn't get a rendering of, you know, the actual place where the dome would be...

(02-20-2019 10:17 AM)Grungy Wrote:  Why not put it on the soccer field?
That's what Columbia did.

Scheduling conflicts with the teams that use the soccer field?
Travel time to and from Patterson?
(It's irrelevant in this day and age, but the football team used to dress out in Autry, and walk to HRS to practice.)

The Thresher article makes it pretty clear that the soccer team does not want to play on turf. Building the bubble on the soccer field means the field would need to be converted from a real grass field to a turf field.

It sounds like their opponents don't have turf fields, so making Rice the odd-man out wouldn't be good.

Legit concerns seem to have been considered in this process, not everyone will be happy but sounds reasonable and an upgrade in facilities, not just for football. Proceed.

I'm curious how they're going to run the power necessary for this dome. Are they going to have to lay in power cables from the stadium (or other connection point)? Or are they going to put a generator on site to cool the air and keep it inflated? That latter option could be expensive, keeping it fueled. More operational costs that have to be covered somehow. (While the university cannot keep the heater fixed on the pool.)

Also, is this one of the first semi-permanent structures ever put on an asphalt lot? What's the experience there? I'm wondering, as the lot gets cooked throughout the summer, what does the heat transfer do to padding and artificial turf that are going to be laid on top. Obviously, it won't get directly heated, but you gotta figure that on the edges, so weird things may start to happen. Those with more experience with asphalt heating might be able to add insight.

What's the anchoring strategy, given the occasional wind storms? I've gotta believe it means holes in the asphalt, but if my quick sketching below is to be believed, an 80,000 sq ft structure can have a full sized field (barely) and easily fit in areas that don't impact the track.