Pengrowth Saddledome

Infobox Stadium | stadium_name=Pengrowth Saddledome


location=555 Saddledome Rise SE
flag|Calgary, AB T2G 2W1
opened=1983
owner= City of Calgary
operator=
construction_cost=$100,000,000 CAD
architect=Graham McCourt Architects
former_names=Olympic Saddledome (1983–1996)
Canadian Airlines Saddledome (1996–2000)
tenants=Calgary Flames (NHL) (1983-present)
Calgary Hitmen (WHL) (1995-present)
Calgary Roughnecks (NLL) (2001-present)
Calgary Rad'z (RHI) (1993)
Calgary Outlaws (NBL) (1994)
seating_capacity=Hockey: 19,289

The Pengrowth Saddledome is the main indoor arena facility in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and is situated on the east end of the Calgary Exhibition and Stampede grounds and Macleod Trail. It is also known simply as the Saddledome or even the 'Dome. The arena is home to the Calgary Flames of the NHL, the Calgary Roughnecks of the NLL and the Calgary Hitmen of the WHL. The Calgary Flames currently have an agreement to manage the Saddledome until July 2014. [http://publicaccess.calgary.ca/lldm01/livelink.exe?func=ccpa.general&msgID=BesTceqqTH&msgAction=Download The Saddledome Foundation – An Historical Perspective]

Architecture

*Architect: Graham McCourt Architects [Now GEC Architecture]
*Structural Engineer: Jan Bobrowski and Partners
*Contractor: CANA
*Cost: CAD 100,000,000
*Title: Saddledome The distinctive saddle-shaped roof, giving the structure its name, is an inverted hyperbolic paraboloid. This original design is believed to still hold the world record for the longest spanning hyperbolic paraboloid concrete shell in the world. Projected onto the x-z plane the Saddledome produces a circle with a radius of 67.7m. Constructed using pre-cast concrete panels suspended by post-tension cables, the roof has an unobstructed 122 metre span covering 12,000 m², but is only 60 centimetres thick.

As a practical matter, such a design causes there to be many more rows of seating near "center ice" than behind the goals.

Depending on the event configuration, the facility seats up to 20,100 spectators, and includes 76 luxury suites, 2 super suites, and 6 restaurants and bars.

History

When it opened on October 15, 1983, it was known as the Olympic Saddledome as it would host the indoor ice events for the 1988 Winter Olympics. This was the first major arena in North America capable of hosting ice hockey matches on the international standard size ice sheet. In its first NHL game, the Flames lost 4–3 to the Edmonton Oilers.

The building underwent a major renovation in the summer of 1995, during which time luxury boxes were added and about a thousand seats were removed in the lower bowl on the north, west, and south sides. This forced the Hitmen to play some early-season home games at the nearby Stampede Corral and the Flames to open the season with an extended road trip. The building was renamed the Canadian Airlines Saddledome when the Calgary-based airline became the building's sponsor in July 1996. This was controversial among many Calgarians who opposed the facility losing the "Olympic" name, and who were also opposed to the decision to cover the Dome's massive roof with the Canadian Airlines logo. In 2000, another company, Pengrowth Management Ltd., took over sponsorship of the complex when Canadian Airlines was acquired by Air Canada and the facility was renamed the Pengrowth Saddledome. Unlike Canadian Airlines, Pengrowth chose not to put its logo on the roof of the facility.

Ice hockey, rodeo events, dog shows, basketball, monster truck events, circus events, music concerts, tapings of Wheel of Fortune, World Wrestling Entertainment and the 2006 ISU World Figure Skating Championships have all been held at the Saddledome in its 20+ year history.

The Saddledome hosts the championship game of the Mac's World Invitational AAA Midget Hockey Championship every year on January 1.

The arena hosted the sixteenth WWF In Your House pay-per-view in 1997.

ee also

* Peace and Friendship Stadium
* Tensile architecture
* Hyperboloid structure
* Tensile and membrane structures
* Thin-shell structure
* List of thin shell structures

External links

* [http://www.pengrowthsaddledome.com/ Official Saddledome Site]
* [http://www.arcaro.org/tension/album/saddledome.htm Construction Details]

succession box
title = Home of the
Calgary Flames
years = 1983 – present
before = Stampede Corral
after = currentsuccession box
title = Host of NHL All-Star Game
years = 1985
before = Meadowlands Arena
after = Hartford Civic Center