Illinois State Rodeo Arena
This project's scope was to create a 10,000 seat open air, accessible, multi-purpose arena designed and constructed within a fifteen-month time frame with a budget of $11 million.
Paramount design considerations involved the preservation and enhancement of the natural beauty of the site. Special attention was made to integrate the grandstand, terraces, and walkway into the existing topography. The 1-1/4 mile long, six-acre arena floor was positioned to complement the topography of an existing ravine. An entry circle provides a warm-up area directly adjacent to the performance arena. A 5,000 seat grandstand was depressed into the south hillside to reduce its impact on the site. The north hillside was terraced to preserve and integrate the existing mature vegetation into the site design while providing additional lawn seating. Low retaining walls define walkways designed at grades of 5% or less to provide accessibility through the twenty-acre site. The membrane roof over the grandstand simulates tent like structures common to the state fairground and appropriate to the park-like setting.
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