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GMB Takes Home One Outdoor Facility of the Year & Four Distinguished Facility Awards
GMB took home five technical awards from the American Sports Builders Association (ASBA) for 2018! This is certainly a big accomplishment, and one that we are really proud of. But why do awards matter? Sure, it gives us a sense of pride for our work to be validated by an external jury. But we would actually argue that these awards are of more importance to our clients because of what they represent: longevity, safety, return on investment, and high quality of play.
Clients want to show off beautiful facilities and highlight their financial stewardship to stakeholders or an administration. Winning an ASBA award demonstrates excellence in design and execution - these playing surfaces will be durable and last for a long time. Post-tensioned tennis courts don't crack, reducing downtime needed for repairs. Well-maintained synthetic turf can decrease labor and maintenance costs, add playing hours to days and usable days to the calendar, and reduce the overall footprint needed for fields. They also promote athlete safety: tennis courts that don't crack eliminate trip hazards and turf fields are designed with products to reduce the forces of impact. Many of our clients see their investments pay off with facilities that outlast the projected life cycle. This allows them additional time to save for future needs, often while generating income on the current spaces through renting to external groups.
William Clay Ford Courts at the University of Michigan
This project took home the ASBA 2018 Outdoor Tennis Facility of the Year award.
The University of Michigan’s competition asphalt courts were developing substantial cracks in all four batteries. GMB was retained to design a post-tension concrete solution, which has a greater resistance to cracking, superior surface drainage and is less susceptible to the effects of climate than asphalt. The courts were tiered in two elevations, making subdrainage a challenge. The existing subdrainage system was also compromised by poor soils and was not draining properly. New subdrainage was specified at each battery to assure that the sub base would remain dry and stable. Beckett & Raeder served as the architect of record.
Clarkston High School
This project took home an ASBA 2018 Distinguished Single-Field Facility award.
Clarkston Community Schools (Clarkston, MI) wanted to upgrade their high school's existing multi-purpose to a synthetic turf field. This field sees activity for sports like football, soccer and boys and girls lacrosse, as well as serving PE classes and marching band practices. Serving so many different activities requires planning for appropriate striping that clearly delineates their utility. Additionally, understanding the existing drainage patterns and grading of the field was critical to engineering a solution that would perform well for all sports. We also expanded synthetic turf to the north of the track to allow for additional practice and warm-up space.
Forest Hills Eastern High School
This project took home an ASBA 2018 Distinguished Single-Field Facility award.
Forest Hills Public Schools (Ada, MI) planned to replace a turf field at Eastern High School and had allocated budget dollars to complete the project. The existing turf field was not properly draining. During moderate to heavy precipitation, areas of the field would become saturated. GMB developed a cost-conscious solution that didn't require completely removing and replacing the stone and subdrainage system. We removed a solidified top stone layer that was causing the problem and added a pad with drainage channels that bring water to header pipes along the sidelines using the existing crown of the field.
East Kentwood High School
This project took home an ASBA 2018 Distinguished Outdoor Tennis Facility award.
East Kentwood Public Schools (Kentwood, MI) had failing asphalt tennis courts at their high school. Replacing those courts with post-tensioned concrete tennis courts meant a significant improvement to the longevity of the courts, since PT concrete courts do not experience the cracking problems that asphalt courts do. This project also improved the overall facility with amenities for players and spectators like a central shade pavilion, drinking fountains, power and more spectator viewing space between the courts.
Northmen Stadium at the Public Schools of Petoskey
This project took home an ASBA 2018 Distinguished Single-Field Facility award.
Built partially into an earthen bowl, this new state-of-the-art stadium supports football, soccer, boys lacrosse and band practices and competitions. Amenities such as an exciting entrance tunnel leading from the locker rooms into the stadium, seating to accommodate over 6,000 spectators and press box. The large video scoreboard draws interest for use of the facility beyond the school's teams.
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