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Posted on Aug 09, 2009 - 3:52pm by John P. in Photography, The Man's Videos, Travel
Thanks to my brother-in-law Jason, I had the opportunity to go over to the new Cowboy’s Stadium in Arlington, TX for the season ticket holder’s open house.
For those of you who don’t know, the 3 million-square-foot stadium has an approximate capacity of up to 100,000 fans. As the largest NFL venue ever built, the new stadium boasts the most spectacular column-free room in the world, stretching a quarter-mile in length.
While I was there, I took the opportunity to take a whole boatload of photographs, and even some video – which they would never let you get away with normally. In addition, Cali and Neal came with me and put together the following show on GeekBrief.TV with some of the video segments.
Full resolution versions of all of these photos are available in my Cowboys Stadium Flickr set as well.
Designed to be open or closed, depending on weather conditions, the expansive retractable roof is the largest of its kind in the world and measures approximately 660,800 square feet. When closed, the roof encompasses 104 million cubic feet of volume, making it the largest enclosed NFL stadium in the world. The retractable roof is designed specifically to emulate the
current Texas Stadium opening which is recognized around the world and allow views inward and outward. Each panel can open or close in 12 minutes. From directly above, the entire playing field can be seen and the opening itself is visible from an elevation of five miles.
The stadium features two monumental arches, soaring 292 feet above the playing field, which support a retract- able roof. As the longest single span roof structure in the world, each boxed arch is 35 feet deep by 17 feet wide. Weighing 3,255 tons each, these impressive structures span 1,225 feet in length. The arches form a striking silhouette on the Arlington landscape as sunlight reflects against the metallic surface during the day and a tailored lighting system reflects the form at night.
The stadium features the largest retractable end zone doors in the world. Each has a five- leaf, clear, retractable opening measuring 120 feet high by 180 feet wide. The five 38-foot panels take only 18 minutes to open or close. By using clear glass for the door panels, spectators experience panoramic views from within the seating bowl and when circulating
through the stadium concourses. Moreover, the operability provides air circulation during game-day and non-game-day events.
One of the most compelling architectural features of the stadium design is the canted glass exterior wall. The 86-foot-high glass, curtain-wall surface slopes outwardly at a 14-degree angle to create a luminescent glow, day or night. A fritted glass system transitions up the elevation to create a dynamic, ever-changing aesthetic depending on the time of day. At night,
a series of internal lights gently wash the glass wall to create a glow across the façade.
Within the seating bowl, Cowboys fans will be provided with a one-of-a-kind feature, a center-hung video board. Hanging approximately 90 feet above the field from the roof structure, the innovative video center spans between the 20-yard lines and features four individual boards – two facing the sidelines and two facing the end zones. The sideline boards measure 72 feet tall by 160 feet wide, while those facing the end zones measure 27 feet tall by 48 feet wide. All four boards are angled toward the stands for optimal viewing. The stunning combination of these boards will immerse spectators with video imagery, creating a premium on upper level seats and presenting the game in a way never before experienced. Streaming across the interior seating facade is a vivid 360 degree matrix board, which offer advertisers “moments in time” during the game.
Zoom in and look at the satellite image via Google Maps.
Wow—fantastic job!! Thank you all for going, and I am glad that you had a good time!!! I can’t wait to be there!!!! AND, of course all the real credit should go to my lovely bride for putting with my fanatacism (which I admit at times can be a bit extreme) and letting me get the tickets!
Can’t wait to see you all next week!!
Jason
I’m totally not into football, (and I’m a little partial to and sad about Texas Stadium) but, that place is amazing!!! Thanks for being an insider and sharing all the pics with us – cool! Hey, I wonder if they raised all the ticket prices to pay for the grandness of that place? Hmm…
ohhh man its huge….you are lucky you got to be there. It looks very much big in the Google Maps… In the map it seems they are still building it…
Ohh its so huge! Look at the HD screen!! I’m not that into sports but the concerts held there must be damn exciting! Beautiful photos.. just amazing…perfectly taken. :)
Those are some mindblowing photos, yet again. Cali Lewis looks quite cute explaining, LOL.
WOW! It’s huge! We don’t have such stadiums in Romania. THe biggest one it’s steal under construction :)
Do you have any video of the first game, pre-game video< SpecificallyI am looking for Video of "Great wonders of the world" that ended with the Cowboy stadium image.