(image courtesy of Populous)

The design for the Jacksonville Jaguars’ amphitheater and covered flex field extends the vitality of TIAA Bank Field beyond the stadium’s walls. The building’s orientation emphasizes the relationship between TIAA Bank Field, the new 5,500-seat amphitheater, the new multi-use field, and the waterfront. To further the integration of these new programs, TIAA Bank Field’s south end zone is opened to the new facility to the south, allowing for a dramatic connection to the main field. Community, connectivity, and event served as the key drivers behind the siting of each program.

First-of-its-kind activation of an NFL Facility
NFL owners, often with their civic partners, have long sought ways to connect their teams and stadiums to the community on more than just 10-11 game days per year. The City of Jacksonville and the Jacksonville Jaguars have taken this trend to the next level with Daily’s Place — a first-of-its-kind, multi-purpose facility connecting a 5,500-seat amphitheater and a 94,000-square-foot indoor practice facility to the south side of TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville, Florida. The new facility will draw fans to the stadium complex for more than 50 concert events per year and fill a team need for an indoor climate-controlled practice space.

Architectural expression/structural systems
In response to the Owner’s request for a truly iconic design, international sports architect Populous took inspiration from Jacksonville’s vast array of estuaries and long-span steel truss bridges over the St. Johns River. The resulting form seamlessly blends structure and architecture with a singular long-span roof covering both the practice field and the amphitheater.

The exposed steel trusses on the top side of the roof membrane blend the exterior architecture of the amphitheater with the adjacent stadium scoreboard structure and the nearby Hart Bridge, while the single-layer membrane hung below provides an elegant, high-volume space for both the amphitheater and practice field. The roof is supported by carefully detailed V-columns at the perimeter of the facility. The incorporation of 50-ft-tall operable doors complete the integration of program and public connection to the complex.

Enclosure materials
In order to realize the bold architectural vision, Populous and their façade and structural consultant Walter P Moore looked to incorporate non-traditional building materials for the enclosure. The roof material is a composite membrane (Sheerfill II manufactured by Saint-Gobain) composed of fiberglass yarns and coated with polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). PTFE creates the undulating architectural expression while functioning as both a roof and a ceiling in a single layer. PTFE also introduces dynamic lighting possibilities from both natural daylighting into the facility and artificial LED lighting at night, all at a relatively low cost.

The façade — a laminated, open-mesh PTFE fabric (Durasking B18901 GM manufactured by Verseidag) which had never been used in this specific application — had to undergo the lengthy fire testing and material approval process for building enclosures in the Florida Building Code.

Innovative, integrated digital delivery
The iconic design combining complex structural geometry and non-traditional enclosure materials presented a significant challenge to the design team. Further, the Jaguars set the opening weekend for the amphitheater as May 27, 2017 — a mere 13 months after design development was set to begin. In order to meet these daunting challenges, the design team developed an integrated digital workflow that blurred the lines between architecture, engineering, material procurement, and construction activities, saving valuable time over more traditional methods.

The digital workflow involved an iterative process starting with a baseline Rhino model from Populous, further developed by Walter P Moore using Grasshopper for geometry definition, form-finding, and sensitivity studies. The refined and rationalized model was then analyzed by Walter P Moore using both finite element and parametric modeling software to determine steel and fabric quantities that informed real-time cost models. The final step was an updated Rhino model developed by Walter P Moore and sent back to Populous to review and start the next iteration.

Running in parallel to and connected with this entirely digital design process was the structural steel connection design and fabrication model development. Given the extremely short duration allowed for design and construction, Walter P Moore along with subconsultant BDS Vircon developed a fully-connected steel Tekla model with the goal of handing the model off to the selected steel fabricator. Careful coordination of all team members allowed for goals to be met and significant detailing time saved over traditional delivery methods that rely on activities running in series and deliverable hand-offs.

For more news and information, see the Daily's Place project page.