Wisconsin Builder | Top Projects of 2002

Perfect Pitch

Miron strikes chord with Resch Center

Resch Center Arena Green Bay

By Jeremy Harrell

Miron Construction Co Inc., Neenah, has established its name as a general contractor in Wisconsin, but after building the Resch Center in Green Bay, the company can add large-scale piano tuner to its résumé.

The project presented the first cable-structure arena for a secondary market in the country, meaning the roof's membrane is hoisted into place and held in check with large metal wires. The cables form a network under the roof, and the tension on each had to be calibrated precisely to the weight it's supposed to carry, said Royce Alsbach, Miron's project manager.

But when wrenching one cable into harmony, the others would invariably fall into discord, he said. To reach perfect pitch, the company would essentially bang a cable with a large hammer and, using a computerized gauge, determine if it was stretched to the appropriate level, Alsbach said.

"It was like trying to tune a piano," he said. "We'd tighten one cable up, and that would loosen another up. We had to adjust the cables three times."

Tight spot

Believe it or not, that was only one of many significant challenges the construction team faced during the nearly two-year project, which brought a big-time, 11,000-seat arena to Wisconsin's third largest city. The first hurdle was the site itself, which was blocked on two sides by existing structures, Alsbach said.

Miron, which won the project through a hard bid, compensated by working the project from the inside out. The company brought two large cranes into the interior of the seating bowl, erected eight false work towers to support the roof structure and jacked the pieces, starting with a linchpin centerpiece, into place one by one, Alsbach said.

"The roof structure was something we'd never seen before," he said. "Most arenas are built with a box girder system. This cable system eliminated the box girders, so you reduced the amount of steel and reduced the space that had to be climate controlled."

Project Name: Resch Center Arena
Location: Green Bay
Submitting Company: Miron Construction Co. Inc., Neenah
General Contractor: Miron Construction Co. Inc., Neenah
Architect: DesignStrategies LLC, Greenville, S.C, as a consultant to O'Dell Associates Inc., Greenville, S.C.
Engineer: Geiger Engineers, Suffern, N.Y. (Structural); SSR Inc., Houston (Mechanical)
Owner: Brown County
Project Cost: $45 million
Start Date: October 2000
Completion Date: August 2002

On the exterior, architects with DesignStrategies LLC, Greenville, S.C., working as a consultant to O'Dell Associates Inc., Greenville, S.C., designed a serpentine glass curtain wall that serves as the arena's main entrance. Again not taking the easy way out, the architect chose to attach the curtain wall to structural steel rather than the typical aluminum framing.

The engineers and Miron's project staff attuned the steel to the glass' tolerance, ensuring there would be no "weeping" as the arena ages.

The guiding principle for the whole project was cost-efficient design. The owner paid $45 million for a project that in other cities could have cost $150 million, Alsbach said.

"It's a very economical and very sound design because it's a very durable building for the price," he said.

That was especially important because the project represented a pooling of resources among several local governments in Brown County, said Ken Betsch, project architect with DesignStrategies.

"It was one of the best examples of intergovernmental cooperation I've seen in my career," he said.

At the height of construction, the project's work force peaked at more than 150 tradespeople who logged 500,000 hours of work. Remarkably, there was no lost time due to injury, and Miron completed the project on schedule and within budget, Alsbach said.

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