First Retractable Roof Over a Football Stadium

Reliant Stadium
Houston, Texas

Walter P Moore provided structural, civil and traffic engineering services for this award-winning project. The stadium is a highly flexible venue, providing a home for the NFL’s Houston Texans and the world’s largest rodeo — the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo — as well as concerts, exhibitions and other events.

The 69,500-seat stadium, including its elegant 956 x 385-foot retractable roof, hosted Super Bowl XXXVIII to rave reviews. Our structural team collaborated with the mechanization consultant and the fabric supplier to bring the architect's concept to life. We worked closely with the contractor to design and build the stadium in an unusual west-to-east sequence in which large pre-assembled panels were erected on a very challenging schedule.

The two-panel, fabric-covered roof is supported on ten highly-efficient trichord trusses. With a keystroke, five trusses move north and five move south atop huge, tapered supertrusses. The translucent skin allows ambient light into the stadium, enhancing the ability to grow the natural grass playing field.

We also provided site investigation, the site plan design and traffic master planning for the project.

RELATED SERVICES

Civil Engineering
Structural Engineering
Traffic Engineering