MOODY CENTER

Austin, USA

Henderson Engineers

As part of an innovative P3 (public-private partnership), Oak View Group and the University of Texas at Austin (UT) set out to build a world-class arena to bring the best performances to the city, widely regarded as the “Live Music Capital of the World.” Now Moody Center, the multi-purpose venue hosts men’s and women’s basketball games for UT’s Texas Longhorns, attracts top concert talent and hosts a variety of other events throughout the year. The new venue and tailgating plaza sit across the street from the historic Darrell K. Royal Texas Memorial Stadium, creating an unrivaled gameday experience for Longhorns fans. Henderson Engineers, a national firm with a Texas office presence in Dallas and Houston, was brought on to provide building systems design for the 15,000-seat arena including electrical, fire and life safety, mechanical, and plumbing. Sister company Henderson Building Solutions, a construction management and commissioning firm, was simultaneously enlisted for commissioning services, which involved assessing building systems for functionality and durability. Using experience gained on a recent professional arena project, Henderson Engineers designed a lower bowl mechanical system that supplies air conditioning from below the seats, also known as positive displacement ventilation (PDV). The system, which provides cooling from the bottom up instead of the top down via overhead ducts, is the first of its kind in a collegiate arena in the United States. It provides increased air quality and ventilation effectiveness, allows for greater economizer operation, and reduces bowl pre-cooling times, allowing for reduced system ventilation and run time demands. Energy modeling estimates approximately 15% in project energy savings from the PDV system when compared to traditional overhead systems. The arena design also includes an operable closure system that mechanically lowers to close off a portion or the entirety of the upper bowl for a more intimate setting and widely varying seating capacities, a dynamic use supported by the lower bowl PDV. One of the challenges unique to this project was connecting Moody Center to the UT campus central utility plant operation. The sequence was unique and, at first, did not work as intended due to campus restrictions. Henderson Engineers and Henderson Building Solutions closely collaborated with campus personnel on the best way to overcome the hurdle, which included project specific system controls sequencing to accommodate both the Moody Center and UT campus plant demands. Careful consideration went into making sure the solution worked for all parties involved. The joint effort between the affiliated companies and their familiarity with each other’s approach was a major benefit to all stakeholders on the project. Due to the existing relationship, responses were quicker when needing to get answers when questions presented themselves. In lieu of submitting an RFI and waiting for a response, the teams collaborated to gain clarity and identify the best solution to a problem. Working together also benefitted the general contractor by reducing the number of punch list items and enabling quicker completion times for tasks. The entire Moody Center build was a five-year process. At the start, the Henderson Engineers team worked on a concept design prior to a defined delivery method in early 2017. The request for proposal (RFP) and design team selection occurred in late 2018 with onboarding in January 2019. The Henderson Building Solutions commissioning team was included in the RFP response and onboarded in 2019 to perform document review and was involved through the closeout of the project, bridging the gap between design and construction. While the two Henderson teams are different companies, their cultural alignment and combination of diverse skillsets was key in helping realize the ambitious vision set forth for the development.

Daktronics

Daktronics partnered with the Oak View Group to manufacture and install nine LED displays at Moody Center. A new centerhung video display system, ribbon display and marquee display were installed at the end of 2021 and are currently informing and entertaining audiences.

Each of the four main centerhung LED video displays measure approximately 20.5 feet high by 27 feet wide and feature 5.9-millimeter pixel spacing to bring crisp, clear images to audiences throughout the arena. Each display is capable of variable content zoning allowing each to show one large image or multiple zones of video, replay and graphic content that fans crave. They can also show statistics and sponsorship messages throughout events.

Below the main video displays is a ring display measuring approximately 3 feet high by 109 feet wide. This display will also feature 5.9-millimeter pixel spacing. On the underbelly of the centerhung, two video displays feature 2.5-millimeter pixel spacing and each measure 5 feet high by 15 feet wide to share supplemental information to the main displays and bring a better view to guests sitting closer to the action Adding to the centerhung, a long LED ribbon display has been mounted to the seating fascia of the arena. This display measures approximately 3.5 feet high by 715 feet wide and features 10-millimeter pixel spacing to bring opportunities to share additional statistics and sponsorship messages throughout events.

“The Daktronics’ LED system provides a great experience for those attending concerts and sporting events. The wide variety of events hosted at Moody Center will allow Daktronics to showcase our flexibility in this multi-use venue,” said Will Ellerbruch, Daktronics’ National Sales Manager for Live Events.

“It’s been great to partner with Oak View Group and everyone involved on this project, and we are honoured to be a part of this first-class facility that has been highly anticipated in Austin.”

Outside Moody Center, two marquee displays have been installed to welcome fans and inform them of upcoming events. One display wraps around the corner of the facility and will measure 26 feet high by 32.5 feet wide. The other display measures 15 feet high by 26 feet wide. Both marquee displays feature a tight 5.9-millimeter pixel spacing with high resolution and crisp imagery to engage audiences as they arrive for live events.

Daktronics has also provided its powerful Show Control solution with this installation. This industry-leading system provides a combination of display control software, world-class video processing, data integration and playback hardware that forms a user-friendly production solution.

JBL | DIVERSIFIED

The Moody Center has been designed and built to be a premium event venue for University Of Texas’ sports and athletics, as well as concerts and a whole host of other events.

Diversified were brought in as the system integrators for the AV systems in the building, including the audiovisual setup within the main bowl, the back of house AV, TVs and IPTV, broadcast cabling, and the broadcast video control room. The Moody Center project was built during the Covid pandemic, with extremely challenging conditions and tight deadlines, though it was still able to open and welcome visitors on schedule, which is a huge credit to the whole team that worked on the project.

Erik Carlson, Senior Project Manager – Sports & Live Events at Diversified, spoke to MONDO | STADIA about the spectacular arena and its equally impressive AV system: “The Moody Center is truly an extremely versatile venue that maximises the fan experience for all events it hosts.

“The main seating bowl is supported by six main arrays - two with 16 VTX A8 loudspeakers and three VTX S28 subwoofers; two with 16 VTX A8 loudspeakers; and two floor fill arrays, each with five VTX A8 loudspeakers and three VTX S28 subwoofers. Each array is driven by Crown amplifiers.

“The bowl delivers a fantastic sound for University games, as well as in-house performances and events.”

The back of house spaces including clubs, bars, concourses, concessions, boardrooms, talent / green rooms, exterior patios, and restrooms - all of which are supported with JBL loudspeakers and 285 Samsung televisions to keep every fan engaged in the live sport, concert or event, no matter where they are in the building.

The buildings broadcasting capabilities include a full broadcast control room for video / audio broadcasting in and out of the building, including a broadcast cabling infrastructure to provide video broadcasting capabilities throughout the venue.