The Pavilion at Ole Miss
AECOM
Posted: October 18, 2023 | Projects
The Pavilion at Ole Miss is an elite collegiate basketball arena that opened on January 7, 2016 and was designed by AECOM.
Photograph courtesy of Jeffrey Jacobs
The new 9,500-seat, multi-purpose arena will host men’s and women’s basketball games, as well as concerts, special events, and day-to-day academic student activities. A set of innovative design elements make the arena a captivating setting for sporting, campus, and recreational events.
As a part of the initial development phase, key stakeholders were engaged from various constituent groups that would use the facilities. Groups reviewed program elements, costs, contextual aesthetics and schedules. Consensus across all user groups was a key part of the strategy for moving the marketing campaign forward on schedule.
The Athletics Foundation worked with AECOM to maximize opportunities for fan engagement, premium seating experiences, sustainable revenue sources, student involvement, and campus engagement.
Integral by design, the Pavilion is the centerpiece of the Ole Miss Athletics Foundation’s comprehensive Forward Together capital campaign.
Situated next to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium (which is undergoing an AECOM designed expansion and renovation, as well), the Pavilion anchors an updated athletics complex near the Grove, which is the University’s central open space, and renowned tailgating destination.
The scheme includes an adjacent 800-stall parking facility that houses the vertical circulation for the arena itself. Both the arena and parking garage reflect the architectural materiality and scale of the traditional campus brick and limestone buildings.
The proximity of the facilities is intended to build synergy between football and arena operations, as well as boost the game day experience for fans. Already, the broadcast TV facility in the complex is lauded as “best in SEC” by Ole Miss broadcast network partners.
Visitors enter through a covered courtyard from the north and arrive at a generous open area within the arena’s main concourse that also serves as a daily food court facility for the University’s students and faculty.
The main entry is marked by a series of Doric columns referencing the southern traditional architectural style of the Ole Miss campus.
In addition, a sweeping barrel roof affords a grand clerestory window wall. This brings natural lighting directly into the seating bowl, and defines the courtyard between the arena and football stadium that will be open to both basketball and football events.
The courtyard will be within the control lines of each facility event and, thus, extend the game-day experience beyond the current facades of both facilities.
Architect, Structural, Mechanical & Electrical Engineers & Cost Estimator
AECOM
2380 McGee Street, #200
Kansas City, MO 64108
www.aecom.com
General Contractor
B.L. Harbert International
820 Shades Creek Parkway, #3000
Birmingham, AL 35209
Location: Oxford, Mississippi
Date Bid: Jun 2014
Construction Period: Jun 2014 to Jan 2016
Total Square Feet: 235,301 Site: 12.5 acres.
Number of Buildings: One; arena seating, 9,500; auditorium seating, 9,500.
Building Sizes: Event level, 96,604; main concourse, 93,665; mezzanine level, 26,292; upper bowl, 18,740; total, 235,301 square feet.
Building Height: Event level below grade, 30’9”; main concourse, 14’4”; mezzanine level, 20’; total, 76’ above grade.
Basic Construction Type: New/IB (2012 IBC).
Foundation: Cast-in-place, pier & grade beam, reinforced concrete, slab-on-grade.
Exterior Walls: CMU, brick veneer, curtain wall, shopfront glazing, precast.
Roof: Membrane, metal.
Floors: Concrete, precast, wood field of play & seating.
Interior Walls: CMU, metal stud drywall.
Click here to view the full cost details for this project in the September/October 2023 issue of DCD