Serious question. How did they not figure out space between rows before installation? Was this the company's first time doing it?
Serious question. How did they not figure out space between rows before installation? Was this the company's first time doing it?
"You should host seminars on how to behave on opposing fan forums. Charge a pretty penny toward that Bison tailgating rig. " from Milkman 1/6/2016
What we believe happened:
The original plan included plastic chairs with no padding. The space between rows was set using these chairs. The space was also set near the minimum comfort level to allow for the maximum number of rows.
Very late in the process, the decision was made to upgrade the seating to chairs with padding. This decision was made without taking into consideration how it would affect the row spacing. The error didn't become apparent until the seats were installed and people started sitting in them. No one wants to claim responsibility($$$), so they are trying inexpensive fixes until they come to a final decision.
Somebody donated money for padded seats which take up more space, presumably after the dimensions were already set.
It's utter incompetence. The contractor either didn't know what they were doing or NDSU made a really bad decision to go forward with them.
Edit: Hammersmith posted while I was typing.
Can they hang the end boards that showed stats in the BSA back up? Or can they use the end "media" tables to show stats on them? When you are sitting on the north/south side, all you get is the game time, score and team fouls. Even that gets crammed on there and is hard to read.
I was going to post about this last week and forgot. I sat behind the basket for the SDSU game which was great because I love being close to the action but not one time did I get to see any game stats all night. I bitch to my wife about it many times. I want to know player stats, for my own interest but also so I know who to heckle and when.
I was actually floored that they would not have a way for everyone on the end lines to not see stats. Seems like more than an a minor oversight to me.
So, I take it that NDSU does not have an academic program in Architecture! Or are they part of the problem? Sometimes architects love to design things that can't (or shouldn't) be built!
"You should host seminars on how to behave on opposing fan forums. Charge a pretty penny toward that Bison tailgating rig. " from Milkman 1/6/2016
I'm not sure if this was mentioned, but I hope they put in some sort of acoustic materials on the ceiling...There is a lot of space above the lights that could be used to make that place sound better and get louder.
Former NDSU intramural athlete.
Yeah, there's about the same amount of seating on the N/S sides as there is on the east side. Maybe more since the bleachers fit more people. Scoreboard probably should have been larger on the ends.
There's a lot of "oversights" that seem to stem from poor decisions. I don't know if NDSU insisted on a lot of that stuff or the contractors and architects didn't know what is expected in a modern arena. It's not just cost or remodel constraints, just a lot of poor decisions that were made. It's still nice and not a bad place by any means but it's not what it should have been.
I don't think I have ever known an architect that LOVES to design useless shit. If anything, every architect that I know genuinely cares enough to get things done. If there is a problem, it is usually because the architect is trying to accomplish too much.
Regarding the seating, the design of fixed seat assembly spaces is very fussy stuff. The code requirements are often at odds with comfort and max capacity goals. Also, most commonly, the rows are designed for a specific seat dimension. If that changes to a bigger seat, the balance is out of whack. (Bigger seat require a bigger stadium to hold the same number. That added square footage is at a cost of about $200/SF or more.) Also, the seats are usually purchased through a separate vendor rather than through the construction contract so it is entirely possible for the owner to make what they think is a simple change that the architect was not able to fully vet.
Insert something clever here...