have been installed for suites, loges and club seats. The framing in of the
suite and office areas has also started.SAVAGE HALL CONSTRUCTION UPDATE
July 6, 2008 - Just about four months ago the renovation of Savage Hall began. Now much of the heavy construction involving steel and concrete has been completed, but there is much more to do over the next five months.
The interior of the building has
seen great changes, especially on the upper level of the west side. After
demolition, new concrete risers for seating
have been installed for suites, loges and club seats. The framing in of the
suite and office areas has also started.
Pre-cast risers now circle almost all of the lower bowl area and will contain permanent seating (photo right). This configuration will allow for storage under some of the seats, and locker room expansion under the seats on the west side of the arena. The men's and women's basketball locker rooms will almost double in size as will the volleyball area.
The east lobby is starting to take shape with expanded restroom and food service areas. The actual areas for foot traffic have been reduced by the expansion, although the corners of the bowl configuration will allow for new meeting places. A special impact-resistant type of drywall has been installed around the perimeter where there was once carpeting on the walls.
The west lobby still has quite a bit of construction to be completed, including lowering the ceiling height to 12 feet to accommodate the suites above. This area will also have a new entrance from the attached Sullivan Athletic Complex on the northwest side of the building.
Most of the walls have been constructed in the area that contains the lockers, weight room and sports medicine on the ground level. Sports medicine will be much larger and will feature two in-ground therapy pools. The weight room will be quite interesting with glass on two sides including at the entrance where players will enter.
Another unique
aspect of the arena will be the upper level seats on the east side (photo left).
Gone is the multi-colored seating, which has been replaced with a blue border of
seats with yellow seats in the infield. A rocket logo is in the center, made up
of blue and some gold seats. The seats to make the design were taken from the
west side and mixed with east side seats to get the proper colors.
When completed, Savage Hall will certainly not be a cookie cutter arena, but will be very unique in its configuration. One area that most of the public won't even see is the conversion of the racquetball courts to the new University steam plant. UT received $1.4 million from the State of Ohio to demolish the classroom annex next to Carlson Library, the ROTC Building and the steam plant in front of Wolfe Hall.
Needing a replacement space for the plant, the racquetball courts were chosen. Steam lines will go from Savage Hall to the central part of Main Campus. An emergency generator system is also being constructed outside of the building at its southeast corner. The steam plant project is separate from the $30 million Savage Hall renovation.