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The Chief Campus Facilities Officer gave SU fans some insight into the school’s decision making process for the new Dome renovations.
Syracuse University released a 42-page campus framework document on Monday, which detailed all of the changes that will be coming to campus in the near future. You can read John Cassillo’s article on some of the renderings directly related to the Carrier Dome and the athletics’ department here.
Among the changes was a new set of renderings for the renovated Carrier Dome. While these images have been met with much excitement from SU fans, the university has stressed that no final decisions have been made and that the design of the new Dome remains in progress.
Syracuse Vice President and Chief Facilities Officer Pete Sala commented on the new renderings, discussing the university’s desires for the re-design, as well as what decisions are still being looked at.
On The Roof:
“That’s great but we’re still in some early design phase. We have a lot of different looks like that and a lot of different options for what the roof could be. I’d never say, ‘Yeah that’s it.’ Not at this point. That’s not the way it goes at this point in the project.”
On the potentially more-transparent look into the Dome (which is apparently a priority for Chancellor Kent Syverud):
“Well, what we’ve done is we’ve looked at the curtain walls around the building. The Chancellor wanted the Dome to be able to be part of the campus community. When we do tours, you can’t see in the Dome. We’re trying to open the Dome to the campus…We’re selling Syracuse University 24-7, 365. Students will be able to see into the building, they’ll be able to be in Arch and see into the Carrier Dome.”
On the new renderings showing the entire Dome being rimmed with glass walls (previous renderings showed glass walls being limited to certain sections of the building):
“We’re working with Populous on those different facade options. We’ve talked about using ETFE in some of the wall panels. It’s challenging with the building, but it’s definitely something we’re looking into.”
On the decision making process of the university (meeting twice a week) and one amenity-related top priority:
“We’re getting there. It’s a long process. We’re doing it right. As we go forward, we have a budget and we need to be flexible. We may need to move this programming to do others. One thing we’ve always talked about is arm-chair seating. That’s something that’s important to fans. That’s something we heard through the feedback.”
The campus framework released on Monday also showed that the university plans to transition students away from living on South Campus, a move that would free up a significant amount of land for SUA and the Syracuse Orange teams to potentially use.