Spring means the start of baseball season, and in March, Dexter Southfield School in Brookline, Mass., opened its new indoor baseball and softball practice facility, thanks to work done by Signature Structures LLC of Easton, Pa. The company partnered with Dellbrook/JKS as general contractor and ARC/Architectural Resources Cambridge. This is the second facility Signature Structures and Dellbrook/JKS have done for the pre-K through 12th grade private school. The previous project was the Kraft Fieldhouse, a multipurpose gymnasium completed in 2018 that’s more than 28,000 square feet and used for basketball, tennis and volleyball.
The new complex encompasses more than 14,000 square feet, with the majority of the building being clearspan space for turf sports, in an area 85 feet by 146 feet. The PVC fabric-covered building has a steel frame and block sidewalls. The insulated sidewalls were integrated into the design to connect visually with existing buildings. Combining a fabric structure and block walls “is rarely done and is difficult to do seamlessly,” says Rick Sharp, director of sales and project development for Signature Structures. A prefab-steel outbuilding is connected to the front gable and serves as an entryway.
Challenges unique to the project included the addition of five 12-foot square overhead doors, which required structural adaptations for header beams. The facility also needed two new retractable partition curtain wall systems that required additional hanging point systems that didn’t impede sight lines.
“This project represents the latest in custom tension fabric structure design, with the inclusion of design elements rarely seen on a structure of this type,” says John Dufal, Signature Structures founder and president.
Project Title: Dexter Southfield School Turf Fieldhouse
Project Manager: Curtis Mita, Signature Structures
Installation: Larkin Taylor, Signature Structures
Design and Engineering: Dirk Cos, Lightweight Design
Architec: ARC/Architectural Resources Cambridge
Fabrication: Best Hall Oy
General Contractor: Dellbrook/JKS
Fabrics: Serge Ferrari Flexlight Perform 832 S2 exterior, Serge Ferrari Flexlight Classic 602 interior liner
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