There was no greater symbol of the trust and collaboration required to build Climate Pledge Arena than the preservation of the building’s 44-million-pound historic roof.
A protected national and local historic landmark built in 1962 for the World’s Fair, the original roof had to be propped up for 13 months while the new arena was built beneath it. With nearly 90% of its load support cut off at any one time, the 400-foot-by-400-foot structure loomed over thousands of workers that filled the site daily.
“So much of it was the first time kind of setup, even for some of the most brilliant structural engineers around, really solving a problem that was completely different,” said CAA ICON Senior Vice President Rob Stephens, the firm’s Climate Pledge Arena project executive.