Stay on top of the Greenroof & Greenwall World by subscribing here: [ Ссылка ].
Dedicated to the men and women of the armed services, Soldier Field is located on famous Lake Shore Drive in Chicago, the first NFL Stadium to become LEED certified. Currently home to the NFL’s Chicago Bears since 1971, it is also the oldest football field in the U.S. and an overstructure greenroof. Originally Municipal Grant Park Stadium, it was designed by Holabird & Roche and opened in 1924. The name was changed to Soldier Field in 1925 as a memorial to U.S. soldiers who had died in combat. Compared to other NFL facilities, the stadium was outdated and its $382.5 million revitalization was part of the City of Chicago’s Lakefront Redevelopment Project.
A joint venture of two firms redesigned the multi-award winning project: Goettsch Partners (formerly Lohan Caprile Goettsch) and Ben Wood (now Principal of Studio Shanghai) and Carlos Zapata (now Principal of Carlos Zapata Studio). Famous for its historic concrete Doric colonnades, the exterior of the classically styled arena was preserved in 2003, with a controversial new modern glass and steel structure set inside. Complex radial geometry resulted in cantilevers being used extensively. The 20-month renovation modernized the stadium and surrounding 98 acre parkland for multi-purpose event use.
Previously surrounded by 66 acres of paved parking, the design by Hoerr Schaudt Landscape Architects sinks the stadium’s garage beneath a nine-acre greenroof and uses sculpted landforms to surround Soldier Field with seventeen acres of parkland. The new green space includes a Children’s Garden, winter sledding hill, War Memorial Wall, and improvements to the Police Memorial. The renovation of Soldier Field was a key milestone in the development of greenroofs, and one of the first to utilize geofoam on such a large scale: the sculpted landforms conceal the 2,500 underground parking spaces. The sloping greenroof park is covered with shade trees of maple, ash, and linden, along with turf and various perennials. Chicago residents and visitors enjoy year-round access to the juxtaposition of the timeless neo-classical and new modern design of Soldier Field, and experience unique views of the Chicago skyline and Burnham Harbor. The wide expanse of unique lakefront parkland, including the 9-acre public access greenroof, makes Soldier Field a “Stadium in a Park.”
Click here: [ Ссылка ] to see more information about this project in The International Greenroof & Greenwall Projects Database [ Ссылка ]. Did we miss your contribution? Please let us know to add you to the profile. Would you like one of your projects to be featured? We have to have a profile first! Submit Your Project Profile [ Ссылка ].
Greenroofs.com Featured Project 5/26/20 photo credits by Hoerr Schaudt Landscape Architects and by Martin Konopacki, Terry Evans, and Peter Schaudt; Soldier Field Facebook; Goettsch Partners © Doug Fogelson; Carlos Zapata Studio; © David B. Seide: Defined Space, Chicago www.DefinedSpace.com; Absolute Altitude Aerial Photography; and the following from Wikipedia: Sculpture of a sailor and his family, gazing eastward, over Lake Michigan, [ Ссылка ], CC BY 2.0; Aerial view of the stadium in 1988 by Dale Fisher, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Digital Visual Library, Public Domain; Aerial view of Soldier Field during renovation in April 2002, USGS The National Map, via MSR Maps (formerly TerraServer-USA), Public Domain; 2015-Fare_Thee_Well_-_Celebrating_50_Years_of_the_Grateful_Dead_9.jpg by naleck - DSC_4105, CC BY 2.0; and UsavsHonduras.jpg Soldier Field Soccer game by Humberto, CC BY-SA 3.0.
