Projects

Austin Q2 Stadium

CLIENT:	Walter P Moore & Irwin Steel
LOCATION:	Austin, Texas, USA
COMPLETION DATE:	2021

project overview:

Spread across 465,000 square feet with a construction cost of $260 million, the new Q2 Stadium in Austin, Texas, USA, is home to the Austin Football Club (Austin FC). The stadium opened in June 2021 and was built to coincide with the team’s first season within the MLS (Major League Soccer).

The Q2 stadium boasts the second largest roof of any MLS stadium and is capable of hosting over 20,000 fans. The steel cable-supported roof canopy is designed to draw in outside breezes so that the lower bowl is a pleasantly cool environment for players and fans alike.

The stadium is framed with approximately 4,500 tons of structural steel, with roughly 2,700 tons dedicated to the roof canopy. Four concrete ‘super columns’ support the entire roof structure at each corner, and the trusses between these columns run parallel to the length of the pitch, making it the longest MLS stadium.

Besides soccer, the stadium can host a variety of community and spectator events, including concerts, community activities, and private events.

DBM Vircon’s Scope of Work

DBM Vircon developed a LOD400 structural steel model concurrent with design for the Q2 Stadium in collaboration with Walter P. Moore and Gensler. The company provided all shop drawings for the structural steelwork for Irwin Steel LLC and fabrication-ready geometry for the MLS Stadium to meet the design and construction schedule. The DBM Vircon team was also responsible for the detailing of additional steelwork, including the steel supporting the bullnose to the canopies and coordinating and detailing of the steel to the curved soffit.

Project Highlights & Challenges:

DBM Vircon provided the methodology to all locations in the LOD400 steel model to correct constructability issues during design to use cost-effective solutions prior to steel procurement.
Integrated delivery process by Walter P. Moore centered around the LOD400 steel model and allowed the team to collaborate through 3D concepts in an iterative fashion.
The design and construction schedule for the Austin Q2 stadium was extremely aggressive. It was essential to complete the steel erection by a specific and unchangeable date. This was so that the grass pitch could be laid in time for the MLS team’s opening game. DBM Vircon played a crucial role in coordinating schedule dates with other trades. During the model development, the main challenge was coordinating the connections for the stadium’s precast as the precast company had not yet been appointed.
All necessary connections to support the precast seating had been coordinated and finalized proactively by DBM Vircon and the design team before the models were provided to the supplier, ensuring that shop drawings could be created and approved more quickly.

Project Awards: