Street view of The George R. Brown Convention center facade showing the new curtain wall and exterior features with people seated in the foreground.

Convention Centers

Defining convention

Conferences have evolved to become spectacular displays of creativity and elevation. Our team is at the forefront, helping clients attract the world’s premier shows with expansive spaces and trailblazing feats of structural engineering.

Overview

As cities around the world strive to attract conventions and events in a highly competitive global market, many are developing new, expanded, or renovated event venues. To compete successfully, convention facilities demand experienced and creative engineering solutions that respond to a variety of unique challenges, including vibration-sensitive ballroom floors, long structural spans over column-free exhibit halls, complex stacking and programming options, and unique and elegant pre-function projects that draw people in.

Creative Experience

We have designed over 33 million square feet of projects including convention center and hospitality space across 18 states, including new facilities and major expansions. New convention centers present opportunities to leverage many of our firm’s strengths, such as designing signature longspan structures and addressing ballroom floor vibration challenges in innovative and non-intrusive ways. Vertical expansions to existing convention centers, such as building additional convention center space on top of existing roofs, have also allowed Walter P Moore to showcase our creativity by developing solutions that are beautiful, simple, and easy to build, and that give cities the space they need to host memorable events.

Addressing Tech Needs

Convention facilities are also facing an increased need to strengthen roof structures to support the demands of high-tech audio/visuals and the growing extravagance of entertainment productions. Walter P Moore works closely with clients and operators to derive the most appropriate rigging capacity that will empower owners to attract the ideal events for their specific venue.