By Leila Atassi, The Plain Dealer
The Ralph Tyler Companies conceptualized this geodesic dome to potentially cover the Cleveland Browns Stadium. Ralph Tyler Companies
Cleveland Browns fans, who have been asked to imagine a football team winning under new ownership, can now also fantasize about enjoying those victories in a stadium impervious to Northeast Ohio weather.
In reaction to incoming team owner Jimmy Haslam’s recent intimations that he might consider building a dome over the lakefront stadium, local architecture and engineering firm Ralph Tyler Companies has dreamed up a way to possibly make it happen.
The idea: A free-standing, glazed geodesic dome — 1,100 feet wide and 380 feet high — could straddle the stadium, shielding it from the elements, the company’s director of architecture, Geoffrey Varga, said in an interview Friday.
The dome, which Varga estimates could cost anywhere from $150 to $200 million, could open a world of possibilities for the facility’s off-season use and likely break a few world records while at it, he said.
“It would be like putting a giant umbrella over the entire stadium,” Varga said. “It’s just a fun idea we’ve been playing with. But it’s one we thought could really work. And the greatest economic benefit is that you could use the stadium more than eight times a year.”
The concept, at this point, is merely that — a tantalizing idea to feed the imaginations of Clevelanders, who have loyally cheered their team from often frigid or damp stadium seats. Hardy, true-blooded fans might argue that weathering storms, both literally and figuratively, is fundamental to Dawg Pound culture.
But the harsh Cleveland weather has taken its toll on the city-owned stadium, which opened in 1999 and requires yearly cash infusions for its upkeep. The Browns have a 30-year stadium lease that calls for the city to pour money into repairs. That money comes from a countywide tax on alcohol and tobacco sales. But the so-called sin tax expires in 2015.
Earlier this year, contractors did more than $5 million in stadium repairs, including refurbishing seats and replacing, repairing and waterproofing concrete.
That deterioration would slow substantially if the facility were sheltered, Varga said. The structure, however, was not designed to withstand the weight of an added roof. So if one were to be considered, it must envelope the 73,000-seat stadium while relying on its own supports.
The dome of Varga’s dreams would meet that criteria, without losing seats or obstructing views, he said. A geodesic dome is a partially-spherical shell structure comprised of tilting triangular tiles set on a lattice that looks similar to a playground climber. The mathematics underlying the structure were conceived decades ago by legendary architect R. Buckminster Fuller, under whom Varga studied at the University of Detroit School of Architecture in the early 1970s.
Northeast Ohio is home to a Fuller-designed dome that is part of the headquarters of ASM International in Russell Township. The largest dome of its kind in the country is the Desert Dome & Kingdoms of the Night in Omaha, Neb., which houses plant and animal life from desert climates. Built in 2002, the dome is 230 feet in diameter and 137 feet tall at its highest point. The largest similar dome in the world spans about 750 feet across a baseball field in Japan. Child’s play compared to Varga’s vision.
The Browns Stadium geodesic dome, despite its eye-popping price tag, would be more cost-effective than its traditional alternatives that rely on steel beams and girders, because it would require far fewer materials, Varga said. He likened each triangular tile on the dome to a leaf on a tree — “completely efficient, grows only as large as it needs to be and is structured to support itself.”
The dome boasts environmental sustainability, too, he said. The project could incorporate a variety of recycled materials. The glazed top not only would act as shelter, but would allow rain to be harvested for other uses, such as in the facility’s toilets or the field’s built-in sprinkler system. Some of the dome’s tiles also could be equipped with solar panels.
Varga said the dome would be made of light-weight, cutting-edge materials, such as carbon fiber instead of steel and aluminum. The lattice likely would measure between six and eight feet thick, and the panels could be made of insulated glass, composite plastics or materials so revolutionary they have yet to be invented, he said.
“It has to be investigated,” Varga said, as a disclaimer on his architectural offering. “This has not been engineered at all. The images are just fun to consider. And it certainly would add a beautiful element to Cleveland’s skyline.”
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