RocHenge Events / Coors Field, Denver
Originally brought in to help do a rework of some suites at the Coors Field baseball stadium, the locally-based RocHenge opted to sponsor the area and put its own unique stamp on the space.
Working with design architect Rowland + Broughton and some of its own supplier/partners, the RocHenge Events Center shows off the capabilities of the company’s robotic waterjet. The pièce de résistance: A 120’ wide floor mosaic that’s scored home runs with everyone who’s seen it.
CHANGING SPACES
Coors Field, which opened in 1995, is still a work in progress. Before completion, the owners of the Colorado Rockies Baseball Club opted to add more seats to the original design, and the intervening years brought more alterations.
Brendan Falvey, director of new partner development for the baseball club, says the most-recent renovation responds to a trend apparent with a number of sports venues: a decreasing demand for suites.
“We really had two goals for this renovation,” he says. “We saw this as an opportunity to both repackage our inventory and create a truly unique space: a high-end luxury facility that would afford us the versatility to accommodate large grounds on game days, but could also be utilized year-round for conferences, business meetings and parties of any size.”
To reach that goal, the club contacted two entities: HOK Sport, which served as the original architect for the stadium; and the Denver office of Rowland + Broughton, an Aspen, Colo.-based firm specializing in interior remodels and renovations for commercial properties (with an emphasis on the hospitality industry) and higher-end homes.
To meet the club’s goal of larger spaces, HOK developed a plan that would take nine of the existing suites and reconfigure them into three super-suites, while opening up the loge area behind them for conference facilities.
“We wanted a space that made sense for a ballpark, but that was also distinct and totally unlike any facility in existence – not only here, but in any sports venue,” Falvey says. “And, we wanted quality finishes; we wanted something that was high-end, but also highly functional and highly durable.”
A big concern was coming up with something that reflects the region and some of Colorado’s iconic images, he adds.
Shane Martin, project manager for Rowland + Broughton, says his firm understood.
“They wanted it to be warm and natural and reflective of Colorado without feeling like a lodge,” he says. “With the participation of RocHenge, it got us thinking about natural materials such as tile and stone. That had been part of our plan originally, but the more we talked, the more we decided we should show something off on the floor beyond a simple border.”
The floor turned out to be one of the few spaces available to much decoration. In opening up the space, HOK opted to incorporate NanaWall® glass technology into the design.
At the same time, Martin says the consolidation of the suites also helped drive the final design. Not only is an important feature of Coors Field the ability of fans to see the Front Range foothills, but suites at the field are named for Colorado’s Fourteeners – the mountains with altitudes exceeding 14,000’.
“People were upset that they were going to lose six of those nine identities,” Martin says. “We said, ‘Let’s bring them back.’ And, since we didn’t have any walls, we put them on the floor.”
EXTRAORDINARY
RocHenge’s sales manager, Jim Cottrell, admits that the company’s involvement in the project looks out-of-the-ordinary. The company’s decision to buy naming rights to the space is a big step, although he’s confident it’ll pay off.
“It’s a long-term deal,” he says. “Part of it is our ability to show off the facility and to show off our capabilities. We’re planning to bring people in for meetings when we do presentations to architects, designers and general contractors.”