 The Lloyd Sports + Engineering team wishes all a Happy Thanksgiving! We are always grateful for the wonderful client and industry relationships we have developed. Thank you for trusting us with your project vision and goals!
The Lloyd team will be enjoying this time with family and, of course, watching some football, we will be back in the office on Monday! Congratulations to our colleague, Valerie Ahyong, for being recognized by ENR’s (Engineering News-Record) 2024 Southwest Top Young Professionals! 🌟🏅 ENR’s annual program awards 20 individuals under the age of 40 for their work and commitment to the construction and design industry. Each candidate’s nomination is judged on experience, education, leadership skills, and community involvement. Proud to have Valerie apart of the Lloyd team!  What better way to celebrate National Youth Sports Day than to highlight a few of our K-8 projects! We enjoy designing facilities and spaces for the next generation to learn and grow on! ⚽⚾ Arizona Desert Elementary Sports Facility Expansion Completed in April, The Lloyd team, alongside SPS+ Architects and Chasse Building Team, provided design for the new sports facility expansion at the existing Arizona Desert Elementary School in Tolleson, AZ. Our role included civil engineering, landscape architecture, sports engineering, and irrigation design. The project included a new synthetic multi-use soccer field and a synthetic combo baseball/ softball field. The site also included additional site improvements to expand parking, improve the perimeter ROW, create a new plaza entry, restroom/concession building updates, and add landscape with irrigation. The new facility hosts up to the U14 playing level and also serves to hosts both day and evening use for the Tolleson youth community and their families. Gilbert Regional Park To continue the National Youth Sports Day recognition, today we are highlighting Gilbert Regional Sports & Recreational Park! The Lloyd team was brought on to this exciting Regional Park Project by the Town of Gilbert to provide Program Management/Construction Management services. The Town was granted a non-exclusive recreational use easement from the Flood Control District of Maricopa County for approximately 225 acres of land to create this flagship park. The park will be constructed in multiple phases with Phase 1 completed in Fall of 2019. Phase 1 included the development of 30 acres that includes the main access road, underground utilities, iconic playground facility, splash pad, a restroom building, temporary irrigation pond, and pickle ball courts. Lloyd was responsible for all coordination and design issues with the Flood Control District of Maricopa County, as well as being the Town of Gilbert’s Engineer of Record on-site for all construction inspection and compliance. This new park allows the Town to host special events, bring the community together to a safe and unique place, and improve their notoriety as a destination place. East Bay German International School Play Field Replacement The East Bay German International School, located in Emeryville, California, play field was a turf replacement project with minor site upgrades to ensure the new surfacing would operate to its fullest potential. The new synthetic turf field included multi-colored turf with a fully striped youth soccer field at 35-yards x 35-yards. The project also included two smaller soccer fields and three full size volleyball courts. Blue perimeter turf was added to provide visual interest, serve as an important safety indicator that hardscape or fencing was nearby, and provides designation space for running or walking. A shock/drainage pad under the turf was designed and installed for fall safety, while directing flow of water to newly upsized collector drain line due west of the field. The shock pads made a safer surface by helping level out the finished surface, creating a softer surface from the under base of asphalt material. The fields were also installed with cork infill per the client’s request. Lloyd prepared concept diagrams communicating key information for turf manufacturers to prepare necessary California Multiple Award Schedule (CMAS) agreements. The turf vendor selected was able to complete this 10,000 square foot project within a month time frame back in the year 2020. Thank you for joining us this week to celebrate National Youth Sports Day! 🌳 Last week, colleagues Valerie Ahyong and Lia Delucchi spent some time training out in the Arizona sun! While touring various park and recreational projects and trailheads in the Phoenix metro area, it was a great opportunity to observe how each design was curated into the area with specific user needs. The balance between conservation and preservation was prevalent, especially through many historic design references. For example, at Granite Mountain Trailhead in Scottsdale, custom signage was designed to educate visitors on the history of the surrounding views, native saguaro growth patterns, and, of course, how to make your way through each of the trails. Another example, Pioneer Park, in Mesa provides visitors with various options with its multi-use grass fields, splash pad, basketball courts, shaded picnic tables, historic train monument, and unique treehouse play structures. Many of these elements can be seen from the suspension bridge that flows throughout the play structures, allowing visitors to experience the park within the canopy of the park’s historic trees. In addition, Valerie and Lia also checked out a few of Lloyd’s past projects as well. They took a quick look at Arizona State University’s Beach Volleyball Facility and Legacy Sports Complex. Lloyd Principal, Anthony Stevenson, also joined them for a tour of Salt River Fields at Talking Stick in Scottsdale, spring training facilities to the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies! To top off the end of a great trip, Valerie and Lia visited the Desert Botanical Garden. Being from California, Lia was able to learn about Arizona native/ adaptive plants and observe the differentiating design styles throughout each garden/ trail. They also took advantage of the landscape design for some sketch training exercises, focusing on perspectives, scaling tricks, shading techniques, and portraying people accurately! A huge thank you to Valerie for planning and organizing a great trip for Lia and the AZ team members who participated in the training! During their recent excursion to East Coast, the LLOYD team had the privilege of visiting Allianz Field in St Paul Minesota. During their visit, the team engaged in some insightful discussions with the facility’s groundskeeping team, delving into the multifaceted challenges associated with growing turf in cold climates. Within the confines of the stadium environment the conditions for growing and sustaining turf are frequently far from ideal. Micro-climates develop at pitch level and the ground staff work to counteract both the effects of nature and the built environment on the turf. 🏟️ These challenges can include aspects of:
To address these complex challenges, stadium design elements such as the bowl layout, utilization of specialized grow lights, field level fans and undersoil heating are all essential components and innovations that architects, engineers, and grounds crew continue to finetune in pursuit of an improved stadium field outcome. Collectively, these ideas all contribute to the playability and presentation of natural grass fields at the highest level all year round. The pitch looked great! Congratulations to the hard-working crew at Allianz Field. 🏅 |
