Gillette Stadium, Just Outside of Boston in Foxboro, 12-Story Lighthouse Overlooking the End Zone
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Photo courtesy of philip.greenspun.com A large modern-day sporting complex includes tens of thousands of seats and what seems like almost as many types of spaces and functions. For the facility staff at the New England Patriots’ home, there is no off-season as they tackle this head-spinning challenge. See how energy conservation has stayed in the game plan, from original design process to post-occupancy staffing. BY KEVIN SLEIN AND HOWARD MCKEW, P.E., CPE S. Route 1 starts as you enter Van Buren, ME near As you look closer, you see that the bridge that connects the the Canadian border and ends in Key West, FL. Early stadium’s east side to its west side mirrors the Longfellow Bridge into the trip, heading south on this historic Route that connects historic Boston with its equally historic neighbor, 1, you can’t help but be impressed as you drive pass Cambridge, MA. A second symbol of this unique facility is the U. Gillette Stadium, just outside of Boston in Foxboro, 12-story lighthouse overlooking the end zone. Three concourses MA. From the road one may say, “Wow, that’s home of the three- (each 70 ft wide, open to the playing field and enclosed around the time Super Bowl champion New England Patriots.” It is not obvious outer perimeter by a wide range of concessions stops) provide an to the naked eye that this mega-structure is more than just another open-air atmosphere welcoming its visitors. NFL stadium. It’s also not obvious to HVAC design engineers. For the operations group at Gillette Stadium, it is a 24-hr a day, 365- A FACILITY MANAGEMENT CHALLENGE days a year O&M success story that takes on HVAC support service Bridging entertainment with business, this multi-use complex has challenges for a wide range of space applications. two clubhouses looking out onto the field with a capacity for 3,000 One might not think the stadium is anything more than a NFL guests each as well as 2,000 luxury suite seats and can be leased on team’s home field that may host an outdoor concert every once in a a daily basis throughout the year. while in the summer, but Gillette Stadium is probably the flagship Another shared investment is the 84 luxury suites that offer fans for new multi-entertainment venues. Built in 2002, it continues to the opportunity to use their suites on a regular basis for their own be the standard for NFL complexes because of the Kraft Group-A business needs. The year-round work venue within this facility, Family of Businesses enterprise (www.thekraftgroup.com). houses over 60,000 sq ft of office space that headquarters The Kraft What is not obvious from the parking lot is the all-encompassing Group, as well as the New England Patriots operations and the New setting for private businesses, such as International Forest Products England Revolution Soccer operations. and the New England Revolution Major League Soccer (MLS) team, Adjacent to the stadium is the 84,000 indoor training facili- to mention just two enterprises owned by The Kraft Group. This ties which serve multiple roles including the home of the Gillette facility is a combination of entertainment complex meshed tightly Stadium Expo Center, as well as the new mega-Patriot Place that together with a business community. provides a wide range of retail, entertainment, hotel, and health care 32 Engineered Systems October 2009 32_McKew 10-09.indd 32 9/24/09 3:03:46 PM Introducing the new Gillette Stadium SMRT Actuator Cast Aluminum housing for facilities that draw people to Foxboro on a daily basis. 60 inch-lbs anti-corrosion and reliability This entrepreneurial venture officially opened at the start of the 2002-2003 NFL season and continues to grow today. The facility management organization has demonstrated from the onset that it could keep pace with the business demands and challenges at the stadium with the first challenge being able to reassess, reprogram, and reorganize the complex HVAC infrastructure based on lessons Programmable Position learned. For design engineers, there are lessons to be learned from Feedback Signal these 21st-century multi-use sites too. There are not a lot of design x 0-5 VDC guidelines for HVAC engineers to reference for a facility of this type. x 0-10 VDC x 2-10 VDC Like so many business ventures, when this stadium was designed Modulation Types x ON-OFF and built, it was based on a strategic business plan to be financially x Floating successful. Good O&M needs to be proactive, cost effective, and x 0-10 VDC Automatically recognizes modulation signals x 2-10 VDC efficient, with a concern for the future. Design engineers need to x 4-20 mA communicate and learn from facility management what the day-to- x PWM x Characterized day issues are, so they can design HVAC systems to accommodate Stroke the demands put on the facility management staff. At this stadium, the operations group strives to mirror its client’s Designers of Intelligent Control Products since 1969 management approach by also striving to be business savvy, so that it Special Incentives for wholesalers! was contributing to providing a safe and healthy environment and be Visit our website for more information about how the SMRT as energy-efficient as possible. As a result, this support service group Actuator can increase your profit margins. didn’t wait long after occupancy to begin to enhance the building systems beginning with an organization structure assessment and a www.SMRT-ACTUATORS.com preliminary energy audit to identify the site’s facility management status as well as what would potentially be needed to keep pace with Input 99 at www.esmagazine.com/instantproductinfo the stadium’s growing business venture. At Gillette Stadium, the magnitude of space/application diversity ESM10094SOLID.indd 1 9/1/09 3:36:35 PM would provide an interesting challenge for the facility engineering Matches AC System Output to Changing Loads, group, and the consultants they drew upon for assistance. The mul- Maintains Comfortable Humidity Levels tiplicity of mechanical, electrical, and building management design intent/requirements are broken out as follows: Most AC systems lack • Field-level activities with 24-7 operating demands: subtlety: they either run at • NFL operations (in-season, off-season, and pre-season) full capacity or they’re off. • MLS operations (in-season, off-season, and pre-season) Under low load conditions, • Full service food and beverage operation and kitchens most systems quickly cool • Warehouse the air and then shut down, • Security allowing humidity to build. • Facility and ground crew operations The APR Control lets AC systems operate at less • Administration level with more traditional office-hour operation than full capacity so they requirements: continue to dehumidify • New England Patriots administration without overcooling. • New England Revolution administration • Stadium operations management ■ For retrofits or • Kraft Sports Productions new DX systems • The Kraft Group to 100 tons • International Forest Products ■ Ideal for makeup air • Construction administration services and VAV systems • Club level with seven-day leased daily functions over 200 days a ■ Fast, simple installation year: RAWAL • East and West Club area DEVICES, INC • Kitchen support space TEL: 800 727 6447 FAX: 781 933 3306 • Corporate meeting space sales @ rawal.com www.rawal.com • Main concourse with game day and night-time football and soccer Input 135 at www.esmagazine.com/instantproductinfo 34 Engineered Systems October 2009 32_McKew 10-09.indd Sec1:34 9/24/09 3:04:03 PM and concert functions: data found in Figure 1. • Stadium concert: 5,500 kW • Food vendor area The electrical demands can be signifi- • NFL game day: 9,500 kW • Seating sections cant based on whether it is a regular office • TV, radio and news area day in the summer, in the winter, on a MLS Natural gas fuels a 1,200 bhp forced hot game day, the night of a concert, or an NFL water plant, ultimately feeding hot water • Lower-level luxury suites level with poten- game day: for potable water consumption, field heat- tial for seven-day, individual space use: ing, reheat zones, and direct and indirect • 42 luxury suites • Regular office day: 2,500 kW heated roof top units throughout the build- • Press area • MLS game day: 4,500 kW ing. Consumption in 2004 of 731 k therms • Upper-level luxury suites level with poten- tial for seven day, individual space use: • 42 luxury suites • Press area What do all these buildings have • Scoreboard and display board oper- in common? ation • Sports lighting level, with NFL and TV peak energy demands on game day • Adjacent areas (pro shop, boiler/ chiller plant, emergency genera- tors, etc.) and their individual space requirements LESSONS LEARNED AND ENERGY CONSERVATION For engineering firms that design multi-use buildings, the initial mechanical and electri- cal design intent needs to accommodate space usage flexibility, as well as a variety of operating hours, 365-days a year. Sport- entertainment-business complexes, such as Gillette Stadium will challenge the best and most creative engineering expertise based on operating parameters that change to meet a diverse range of use and peak demands on the mechanical and electrical systems. ASHRAE recognized this engineering issue and presented seminars on the topic at the 2009 Annual Conference in Louisville this The Next evolution in System Design past June because of the popularity of these The Danfoss AB-QM Pressure Independent Control new, multiple-entertainment venues and the Valve (PICV) combines hydronic balancing and need to learn from those complexes that temperature control into one compact valve, have been built since 2000.