OWNER: Board of Education's Division of School Facilities, Long Island City, NY
DEVELOPER: Take the Field Inc., NYC
DESIGN ARCHITECT: LZA Technology, NYC
CO-SPONSOR: Loews Corp., NYC
CO-SPONSOR: The William & Mary Greve Foundation, NYC
CONSTRUCTION MANAGER: TDX Construction Corp., NYC

Thanks to Take the Field Inc., more and more high school students are able to "play ball or "run like the wind." Take the Field Inc. is the "private" part of a $100 million public-private partnership charged with refurbishing athletic fields at 52 New York City public high schools.

To date, over a dozen facilities have been completed and eight more sites are being designed. Each facility has had its own unique challenges such as adaptation of a variety of events, poor subsurface conditions and layout construction. Field events include baseball, softball, tennis, handball, soccer, football, Lacrosse and all track and field events. In all of the completed projects, project team members have applied innovated yet pragmatic architectural design and engineering solutions to reduce costs and maximize the long-term survival of each new facility. Special care was taken to consult with the users, athletic directors, team coaches and the communities in which the fields are located in order to optimize these facilities for their best use now and in the future.

Critical planning elements that challenge the individual project teams are structural, drainage and irrigation, layout, material selection, equipment needs, standards and code compliance, phasing of construction and amenities.

Choosing a field's structural elements requires finding the most economical structural solution possible to maintain maximum performance and minimize long-term and differential settlement. Innovative solutions have included the use of deep dynamic compaction; the use of geo-grid and geo-fabrics; the reuse of existing materials with an added value of sustainability; and the use of controlled fill.

Drainage and irrigation solutions have included using a "herring bone pattern" under drain systems and integral slot drains to eliminate the need of solely relying on catch basins; and the use of automatic irrigation control systems and isolated wash-down hose bibs.

The use of the latest technology of artificial rubber in-fill turf products and various rubberized track products provided the required solutions to the challenge of material selection. Similarly, the use of the latest up-to-date manufacturers' products, an extensive array of athletic equipment and decentralized storage facilities for portable equipment served as equipment need solutions for individual projects.

The solutions to the challenge of standards and code compliance were the use of all of the latest codes and standards for athletic facility design. These included NCAA, OSHA, ADA, local and national codes and associated rules and regulations.

Phasing construction allowed for the scheduling of specific events during each event's "season." This allowed events to take place without shutting down facilities or disrupting an event's schedule.

Finally, amenities play an important role in the design, construction and use of an athletic field. Each sport has different requirements, but overall amenities included scoreboards, press boxes, drinking fountains, removable equipment, school logos or mascot markings and dedicated signage and donor honor signage.

The jury said that Take the Field Inc. is a "project addresses the need of the city, its schools and the students who attend them in a creative manner."