Building Design Construction

uilding
team
awards
2016
PLATINUM AWARD
DAVID REVETTE/REVETTE STUDIO
In September 2014, New York Governor
Andrew Cuomo signed legislation
that allowed for the construction of a
new performing arts venue on Onondaga
Lake, about fi ve miles northwest of
Syracuse.
One year later, on September 3, 2015,
the Onondaga Lakeview Amphitheater, a
gleaming, 74,000-sf outdoor event complex
with a seating capacity of 17,500,
held its fi rst performance, featuring country
singer Miranda Lambert. This summer, the
facility will host 25 concerts.
The state-of-the-art amphitheater transformed
an EPA-designated Superfund site
into a destination that honors its surroundings
and encourages a celebration of arts
and culture. The facility was the fi rst step
in a larger community revitalization initiative
along the lake’s western shore, involving
the village of Solvay and the town of
Geddes. It’s the only vertical design-build
contract that the Empire State has let go
forward.
With an accelerated construction period,
early and constant Building Team collaboration
and cooperation were essential
for the on-time and on-budget completion
of this project. That collaboration began
even before the county awarded the
contract, with the structural design team
working at risk to deliver the steel mill
order only eight days after the contract
was signed.
Project planning and early identifi cation
of subcontractors were critical to the success
of this project. BIM played a sem inal
role in delivering accurate documents on
time. The integration of structural analysis
software (ETABS) and modeling software
(Revit Structure) quantitatively reduced the
drawing production time, while increasing
the accuracy of the information.
“The Building Team did a terrifi c job of
melding with a stunning landscape, but
not overpowering it,” said awards judge
Beau Sanders, PE, SE, Associate and
Project Manager with engineering fi rm
Graef. “It’s apparent that they thought
through all the details, from design to
construction. It’s a beautiful project that is
not just for concertgoers, but for the whole
community to enjoy and appreciate.”
BLENDING IN WITH THE
NATURAL LANDSCAPE
The site consists of capped industrial
waste. Any attempt to remove it could
have resulted in further environmental
damage. To avoid this, the design minimized
the need for signifi cant cut and fi ll.
Gilbane Building Company, the general
contractor, mandated 40-hour Hazardous
Waste Operations and Emergency
Response training for anyone who would
be working in potential areas of contamination.
Gilbane also calibrated on a daily
basis air-monitoring workstations that
tracked contaminants on site or dissipating
outside the work perimeter.
Over 80,000 cubic yards of existing
industrial waste were excavated and relocated
to an onsite staging area. Another
130,000 cubic yards of infi ll were brought
in. More than 230 steel piles were driven
to support the amphitheater’s back-ofhouse
and pavilion structures.
To deliver power, water, and other
services to the facility, Gilbane drilled horizontally
underneath Interstate 690 without
needing to close down any lanes.
The building’s design and orientation
take advantage of the natural land
contours and lake views. So integrated is
the building’s design with its environment
that a bicycle path which circles the lake
passes directly through the pavilion, underscoring
the site’s function as a county
park. The covered pavilion’s fascia, when
backlit, correlates to the natural light at
dusk on the lake waves.
The pavilion façade has 198 steelsupported,
20-foot-high mesh panels that,
when illuminated, play off the natural landscape
beyond the amphitheater’s lawn.
The fascia allows the transmission of
highly amplifi ed sound from speakers at
the stage and from behind the mesh to
reach patrons with clarity. The rear lawn
loudspeakers—12,500 of the amphitheater’s
seating capacity is on an 80,000-sf
lawn—are positioned directly behind the
unobtrusive open mesh system, which is
not only designed for sound integrity but
also to provide a clean look at the rear
skirt of the shed roof.
Westlake Reed Leskosky’s in-house
www.BDCuniversity.com BUILDING DESIGN+CONSTRUCTION MAY 2016 27