Centennial Olympic Stadium
The centerpiece of Atlanta's new construction for the 1996 Olympic Games is the 83,500-seat Olympic Stadium. The opening and closing ceremonies and all of the track and field events will take place here. The $230 million facility and other Olympic related construction represented 15% of all construction in the state of Georgia in 1995. The joint venture design team of Heery International, Inc., Rosser International, Inc., Williams-Russell and Johnson, Inc. and Ellerbe Becket, Inc. designed the structure which, like Camden Yards in Baltimore, takes its visual language from the nostalgic baseball stadiums of the past. The dark green, navy and yellow type with seraphs supplant the obligatory Helvetica of the past 30 years and look back to the 1930's.
At 1.6 million square feet on 21 acres the Olympic stadium is roughly the size of the Georgia Dome but looks considerably smaller because it is nestled into a sloping site. The builders did not want the stadium to tower over the neighborhood as does the Atlanta Fulton County Stadium. One million bricks and 10,000 tons of structural steel make up the stadium, not to mention 66 restrooms (35 for women and 31 for men). There are also 60 suites which will be leased during the games for $360,000 to $1.6 million. The scoreboard is more than 32 feet high by 62 feet wide with an outdoor video screen that measures 28 feet high by 37 feet wide, the largest in the U.S.
The exterior reflects the look of baseball stadiums before multi-use became a requirement. The beige and dark green color scheme recalls those structures of the early part of the century. Two sweeping grand staircases funnel spectators into the upper levels eliminating the corkscrew routes required in many of the current stadiums.
Fifty two food stands with names like Sweet Things and Grille Works will offer everything from southern and deli food to gourmet coffee and ice cream. There will also be 300 vendors, 75 push carts and 11 novelty stands hawking their wares throughout the stadium.
The Atlanta Journal and Constitution says "Not a bad seat in the house. Whether you're in the upper deck or on the finish line, the view of the field is great." The seating for wheelchair-bound fans is said to be among the best in the country. They have elevated disabled seating so that they can see over fans who stand up in front.
The project has been plagued by difficulties, however, the most notable being the collapse of a lighting tower which caused the death of a steel worker in March of 1995. Other structural problems have had to be resolved, including bracing of catwalks, additional connections for stadium seating, extra welding and braces for ramps and cracked supports which had to be shored up with concrete and steel.
After the Olympics the stadium will be reduced in seating capacity to 49,831 and converted into a baseball stadium for the Atlanta Braves. ACOG (The Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games) will pay for the conversion and donate the stadium to the city.
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