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Curvilinear Design of Invesco Field
11 Nov 2003 by Matthew Linderman
While watching some football the other week, I noticed something cool about the design of Invesco Field in Denver. Instead of the typical flat line, the top of the stadium is curvilinear in order to provide extra rows of seats in the middle of the field [images: 1, 2, 3]. Since it’s exclusively a football stadium, it makes sense to increase the number of seats around the 50-yard line this way. Plus, it looks pretty cool without going overboard (trying too hard example = Chicago’s new Soldier Field). Here’s a case study on the design of Invesco field by HNTB, the architects behind it.
9 comments so far (Post a Comment)
11 Nov 2003 | Matthew Oliphant said...
I know the best seats are considered to be at the 50, but I wonder if there have been any studies about where most plays (considering, too, duration of time spent at each line) do take place.
Conventional wisom seems to say it is the 50, but who knows (I don't)?
11 Nov 2003 | Nathan said...
Of course, when it was built, more than one fan here in Denver (not me) equated its design with that of a feminine hygiene product ?
11 Nov 2003 | blunt said...
You mean a maxi-pad?
12 Nov 2003 | One of several Steves said...
That's become a fairly common direction in football stadium design the last several years (especially as more teams have been moving from multipurpose stadia to purpose-built ones). The old bowl-type stadium seems to be going away.
It's not curvilinear, but the Seattle Seahawks' new stadium is even more dramatic at putting people on the sidelines: Semi-field-level view and overhead view.
Pittsburgh's is similar to Seattle's: End zone view and overhead.
12 Nov 2003 | Geoffrey said...
Similar concept here:
http://www.firstandgoal.com/
12 Nov 2003 | One of several Steves said...
It's not so much that most of the plays take place at the 50, it's that you get an even, symmetrical view of the field from there. If you're sitting on an end zone, plays at the other end of the field become too far away to see well. Sitting between the 40s, things maintain a fairly consistent perspective.
12 Nov 2003 | kev said...
i always thought it resembled a plastic container that'd been left in the microwave or dishwasher too long...
12 Nov 2003 | Paul said...
I live in Denver now, and can attest to how attractive Invesco Field at Mile High (gesundheit!) is. It's nicer in person.
The tops are slightly reminiscent of Denver International Airport - a design that mimics the Rockies.
16 Jan 2004 | Dudley said...
For example, if you see an AIM window peeking out from behind your browser and you click on it, that window will come to the front, but the main application window will not. The Mail.app/Activity Viewer is another example. The Aqua system of layers works well in many instances, but not in all. Thank goodness that the Dock is always there to come to the rescue. I know that clicking on an application icon in the Dock will always result in not only the application coming to the front, but also any non-minimized windows associated with it. And if the application is active but no windows are open, clicking on the Dock icon should create a new window in that application.
