All the grit, glory and intricate geometry of the gridiron

The College Football Hall of Fame offers an immersive, near-game-day experience for visiting football fans. Its slick video touch screens and interactive exhibits – like the huge entry wall featuring 818 light-up helmets that react to fans’ RFID badges – are countered by the raw feel of the hall’s exposed steel structure, which echoes the geometry of the gridiron. 

An 80-foot-tall, football-shaped rotunda houses a second-floor theater and the famous Hall of Fame shrine on the third floor. The rotunda’s two-story atrium, the Quad, opens onto a 45-yard turf field. Fans can test their skills on the field or look down on the action from the exhibit galleries along the two-story bridge above. 

484 tons of steel carry these key features, and SYKES played an integral role in shaping the design and coordination of the structure’s hidden and exposed elements. 

In one highly visible change, we altered the design of the playing field’s long-span roof, introducing curved Vierendeel trusses that reduced the steel tonnage and achieved the more expansive, open-sky look the project architect wanted. 

Creative framing schemes were also required for the complex, double-curved geometry of the football-shaped rotunda. Collaborative 3D models produced in Revit and Tekla helped the project team visualize the structure from every angle and avoid framing conflicts. In one such clash – between the beam-to-column joints and their diagonal bracing connections – we adjusted the work points of the varying connections, sharing individual load cases and detailing concepts with the steel detailer. 

The entire project required intense collaboration from all members of the design and construction team to coordinate the intricate detailing, load analysis, fabrication, erection and finishing under the highly compressed timeframe – closing ahead of schedule in 18 months. 

In addition to the structural steel design, Sykes Consulting, Inc., was responsible for the design and detailing of the deep foundation system and three elevated concrete structures – including the custom-formed concrete “Y” column that cradles the football rotunda. 

Located in downtown Atlanta near Centennial Olympic Park, the College Football Hall of Fame also features street-level retail and restaurant spaces, a parking garage, and an enclosed corridor to the Georgia World Congress Center.