The Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority (MSFA) and Minnesota Vikings selected H&H as part of the design team for their new $975 million stadium. Part of the MSFA’s wishes for the new stadium were the promotion of openness and outdoor feel while also taking advantage of the city’s downtown skyline.
To meet these objectives, the stadium’s architect, HKS, and the design team proposed that the signature piece of new stadium would be the world’s five largest pivoting glass doors, each ranging from 75 to 95 feet tall. H&H was specifically responsible for the design of the door’s bearings, drive machinery, and locks.
The door’s substantial cantilevered weight, size, and construction costs required special engineering considerations. H&H developed a hydraulic push-pull drive system that evenly distributed the operating forces along the door and kept the construction costs within budget. Since the doors are cantilevered, each required specially designed thrust and spherical roller bearings to effectively handle the operating and holding loads. Additionally, the differential deflections were varied due to the extreme height of the doors. H&H developed a sequentially synchronized lock bar system to “zipper” the doors closed to efficiently counteract this concern and resist the site’s significant wind loads. With the façade being entirely transparent, the lock bars were intended to be inconspicuous and were designed to be particularly small and compact. In addition, the lock bars were constructed out of off-the-shelf materials to limit the costs of initial construction and future maintenance.
The new US Bank Stadium primarily serves as the home of the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings, and hosted the 2018 Super Bowl and also the 2019 NCAA Men’s Final Four Basketball Tournament.
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