NU regents approve Clark Enersen as Memorial Stadium architect

[Nexus]

A longtime Lincoln architectural firm will design a $55.5 million Memorial Stadium expansion to add 5,000 seats by the 2013 football season.

 

The University of Nebraska Board of Regents chose Clark Enersen Partners to design the expansion. Founded in 1946, Clark Enersen bills itself as one of the largest and most respected design firms in the region, with offices in Lincoln; Kansas City, Mo.; and Overland Park, Kan.

 

A selection committee consisting of university employees and two external members from the University of Nebraska Project Evaluation Board recommended Clark Enersen from six firms that submitted proposals for the expansion.

 

The expansion will include 2,000 to 2,250 new club seats, 400 to 500 seats in about 30 new indoor/outdoor suites and 2,500 to 2,800 general admission seats. Construction on the project is set to begin in May and be completed by June 2013.

 

Also Thursday, an Omaha architect again presented his design proposal to the regents that calls for a massive bridge supported by steel columns that would provide the additional seating within East Stadium. John Schmidt said his idea would preserve the East Stadium's facade.

 

"The best way to treat a beautiful historic stadium is three simple words: Leave it alone," he said.

 

Regents Chairman Bob Phares said the board would forward Schmidt's idea to Clark Enersen. A local preservationist and a former dean of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Architecture, meanwhile, both said they liked Schmidt's proposal.

 

"I think it's deserving of further exploration," said W. Cecil Steward, former architectural dean and president/CEO of the Joslyn Castle Institute for Sustainable Communities. He described Schmidt's design as dramatic and impressive.

 

J.L. Schmidt, executive director of Heritage Nebraska, said his organization supports any effort to preserve East Stadium, which he called one of the last remaining original features of Memorial Stadium.

 

"It's another one of those fading treasures of the architecture on City Campus," he said.

 

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[gratefullred]

When do we get to see a drawing?