Truist Park
Shaping a new era in engineering and design modeling
Project Facts
| Location | Atlanta, Georgia |
| Owner | Cobb-Marietta Coliseum and Exhibit Hall Authority |
| Size | 1,200,000 SF |
| Cost | $475 million |
| Status | Completed 2017 |
| Certifications | LEED Silver |
Overview
Walter P Moore provided structural engineering services for the Atlanta Braves’ 41,500-seat ballpark, using an innovative modeling approach that ensured seamless alignment between the stadium’s seating bowl, its steel structure, and its facade. Built into the side of a hill, Truist Park features one the largest roof canopies in Major League Baseball (MLB) along with a three-tier grandstand within its precast seating bowl. The ballpark now sits at the heart of The Battery Atlanta, a sprawling 60-acre mixed-use development featuring apartments, offices, and restaurants.
Services
Challenges
Structural Complexity
The project had to be built into the side of a hill, which required custom structural solutions to manage unbalanced soil pressures and support the arena’s seating and internal programmatic neighborhoods.
Canopy Design
The design for Truist Park featured one of the MLB’s largest roof canopies, and the design had to make effective use of materials while maximizing spectator comfort and providing internal climate control.
Seating Bowl Layout
Within a short delivery period of 36 months, the design and assembly of the seating bowl had to be optimized for sightlines and constructability, accounting for variable riser heights and wide concourses.
Solutions
Optimized Design
Structurally isolating the ballpark from the soil helped us deal with unbalanced soil pressures. We also used sophisticated analysis techniques to optimize every component of the steel structure, reuse steel supports from the nearby Chick-fil-A cow sculpture, and replace cement with fly ash in 50% of foundation elements and 25% of the elevated concrete structure.
Digital Workflows
We deployed generative parametric modeling techniques, assessing many canopy configurations to arrive at a solution featuring round hollow structural sections and steel pipes that were field bolted with cover plates for a seamless finish. The resulting structure maximizes fan comfort and cost efficiency.
Bowl Generator
Using digital workflows, we generated and aligned seating bowl geometries and steel raker framing geometries early in the design. We also designed and fabricated precast concrete risers of varying heights to preserve sightlines and accommodate the three-tier grandstand and split top deck.
Results
Safety and Sustainability
Our solutions delivered a resilient structure that can withstand wind and seismic forces while saving 9.5 million pounds of cement which would have contributed 8.5 million pounds of CO2 to the project’s embodied carbon.
First-of-its-Kind
Among the largest of its kind in the MLB, Truist Park’s 108,000-square-foot canopy shades 60 percent of fans in the stands while reusing materials to add to the project’s carbon and cost savings.
On Time and On Budget
Walter P Moore’s industry leading digital workflows helped the design work finish in just eight months, which is 40% faster than usual. This allowed construction to commence early and proceed on an industry-record time schedule that wrapped up in time to host the MLB season opener.
Project Team Leaders
