[getbak]

Originally Posted by gargamel

The ice surface at Madison Square Garden is above ground level, but having warm air under it can affect the ice quality there. That shouldn't be a problem in Edmonton though. I think the design is ugly, but since I don't have to look at it on a daily basis and only go there for a game or 2 per season, I'm all in favor of anything different and wacky.

Originally Posted by Walter Reed

Ever hear of Madison Square Garden, its ice is above ground ...
Very imaginative design IMO ...

I'll admit that I've never been inside the arena at MSG, but from what I've seen of it on tv and in pictures, the impression I get is that the ice surface is on the third floor of the building, but it isn't suspended 3 stories in the air. That's a significant difference.

The impression I get is that if you were at centre ice at MSG and walked to the Rangers' dressing room, it would be a very similar experience to walking from centre ice at the Saddledome to the Flames' dressing room. The inner workings of the arena are still the inner workings of the arena, just a few floors higher.

Manhattan has expensive real estate, so they built the arena on top of a theater and other venues, but the basic design of the arena is still pretty much the standard that you'll see in every NHL arena. As far as I can tell, there isn't anywhere in MSG that you can look up and see the bottom of the arena, like the Edmonton design implies would be possible.


My interpretation of what this design for the arena in Edmonton would be is that if you were on the ground floor and looked up, you would see the underside of the seating bowl in a tiered step design (like looking up at Devo's hats if you stuck them to the ceiling).

The best part of this design would be standing directly below centre ice and looking up to see the stepped concentric ovals as they grow larger and higher. For that effect to work, there can essentially be no "backstage" area on the arena floor level.

Look at this elevation drawing again and tell me: Where are the dressing rooms going to be? Where's the loading dock going to be? Where are the Zambonis going to park? Where will the Zambonis dump their snow? Where will the ice-making equipment be?




Innovative design is fine and dandy, but if it's not a functional arena, it's failed at its most important task.

Originally Posted by You Need a Thneed

Raising the level of the floor to above grade makes handling load ins for concerts/ etc so much more difficult, as well, as you need ramps to get equipment up to the floor, all while wasting space above ground When the floor level is below grade, you can hide those support services from the public view, with a structure like this, hiding those support facilities would be impossible.

Yeah. This is essentially the point I was trying to make.

I'm not critiquing the design just because it's the Oilers and I want to trash them. I want the Oilers to have a great, state-of-the-art building, if for no other reason than to inspire the Flames to build something better.