In its inaugural season in 2014, BB&T Ballpark in Charlotte, North Carolina set new records. It was the most visited Minor League Baseball venue of the season. Including the Triple-A National Championship Game, the Charlotte Knights welcomed 696,601 fans during their inaugural season in Uptown Charlotte with 31 sell-out crowds and leading all of Minor League Baseball in attendance.
LEED certification was an objective and there was the added challenge that the seating components over occupied space are concrete. As concrete moves, it cracks. It is in the areas that are not visible where problems may occur later.
Establishing a waterproof tie-in between the silicone-based glazing system and the urethane deck coating at the window-wall of the luxury boxes was going to be a critical aspect of the job. The polyehylene backing on sheet-applied air barrier membranes also is an adhesion challenge for most sealants.
Tremco's TREMproof 6100 Hot Rubberized Asphalt provided the performance required within the budget parameters. Among other applications, it was used for waterproofing a double slab roof where a maintenance room was situated below.
To reflect the character of uptown Charlotte, the brick and storefront window exterior features found on buildings in the area are combined with the stadium’s painted exposed steel structure. Tremco’s ExoAir 120 Fluid-Applied Air & Vapor Barrier Membrane serves as the foundation for the air barrier system behind the brick, providing a monolithic, seamless membrane which ensures continuous integrity without gaps. ExoAir 110 Self-Adhered Air & Vapor Membrane is used as a transition membrane into door and window openings. Spectrem 1 Silicone Sealant was used at the connection from the air barrier to the window-wall of the luxury boxes and the punched window openings.
The roller-grade version of Vulkem 350NF was used, making the application up the risers much easier than with a self-leveling material and it does not require priming. Its compatibility with other Tremco products where it abuts other transitions or penetrations of the structure such as floor-to-wall transitions, detailing and drainage areas eliminates concerns about cure inhibition or adhesion issues. Dymeric 240FC Polyurethane Sealant, specially formulated for dynamically moving building joints, was used to provide flexible, durable, weather tight seals in the concrete.
Soon after its inaugural season came to a close, BB&T Ballpark was named a Winner in the 2014 ENR Southeast Awards program in the Sports/Entertainment category. ENR Southeast’s annual project excellence program and judges based their decisions on which projects represent the “best” construction and design achievements of the past year for the Southeast region.
