Design of the Retractable Roof for the Florida Marlins' New Ballpark

When the Florida Marlins began planning for a new baseball-only facility, the presence of a retractable roof was essential. The team owner had a vision for a modern structure different than many of the recently-constructed retro-ballparks. That vision included a retractable roof that was foreseen as more than an umbrella for field and fans. Armed with this direction, the design team embarked on devising a roof structure that could survive major hurricanes economically, while still satisfying the architectural and operational demands of the ballpark. The new ballpark, currently under construction and moving towards an opening day in April 2012, is situated near downtown Miami, Florida. On the one hand, the design team was challenged to support an architecture that did not overwhelm the surrounding residential neighborhood. On the other hand, traditional approaches to resisting hurricane-force winds forecast the need for either a potentially obtrusive or more costly structure. To resolve this dilemma, the roof team implemented an innovative storm preparation strategy to survive major tropical events. Leveraging the experience gained from previous collaboration on several retractable roofs, the team approached their design holistically, with each consultant balancing the efficiency and cost associated with their scope against the roof as a whole. The engineers also collaborated heavily with the project wind consultant to determine cost-effective operating parameters. Because of its unconventional functionality, the resulting three-panel roof, with spans up to 560 feet, exemplifies a new generation of retractable roof design. This session will present the challenges encountered, and solutions provided, by the structural team in charge of designing this new type of roof.