Said Differently - A Barton Malow Podcast
Said Differently is Barton Malow's conversation with the construction industry. Each episode features candid conversations with leaders, tradespeople, and partners who are shaping how Barton Malow designs, builds, and delivers. Said Differently is a go-to resource for anyone who wants to understand where construction is headed and how Barton Malow is helping get it there.
Said Differently - A Barton Malow Podcast
Under Pressure: Raising the Roof on the Pontiac Silverdome
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In this episode of Said Differently, we revisit the Pontiac Silverdome project that changed both sports construction and Barton Malow. From use of the Construction Management delivery method that helped the team quickly adapt to challenges to the first-of-its-kind 12-acre inflatable fabric roof, the Silverdome was lauded as an engineering marvel of its time.
Chief Community Officer Ben Maibach III, a Vice President at the time of the Silverdome’s construction, joins the podcast to discuss the project. Also included is archival audio from then-Barton Malow President Rollie Wilkening and then-Chairman of the Board Ben Maibach Jr.
It may look as though these men are climbing a snowy mountain. Actually, they're on the roof of the new Pontiac Stadium prior to inflation. It is an unusual structure that has attracted much attention nationally and internationally. Hence this report by the Martin Mellow Company, the stadium construction manager. It's known as the Silver Dome because of the way its fiberglass roof gleams in the sunlight.
SPEAKER_00Utilizing goats to clear vegetation on a steep hillside to save on manpower and ensure safety. We've done that.
SPEAKER_01Watching a world-renowned architect crumble up a piece of paper and tell you that's how they want their building to be designed, we've been there too.
SPEAKER_00Ever envision a brick-laying robot or material lift unit assisting laborers with building? It's happening now on our job sites.
SPEAKER_01Every project has a great story, and our team members have more than a few to tell throughout Bartmall's 100 years of business that don't fit the usual industry coverage.
SPEAKER_00I'm Rob Riley, and I'm Eric Fitch. We're both BartMallow team members and the host of this podcast. And we're going to be bringing you the untold stories from the job site. It's construction, but it's said differently. When many people think of the old Pontiac Silverdome, they think of the events it hosted, and the attendance records of the 80,000 plus seat stadium broke over its tenure. WrestleMania III. The 1994 FIFA World Cup. The biggest acts in music and entertainment. And of course, Detroit Lions and at least for a period of time, Detroit Pistons home games.
SPEAKER_01But there are plenty of stories of the Silver Dome's construction that have been largely overshadowed since its completion in 1975. There was the site prep that had to be done to make it suitable for building. There was the use of the construction management delivery method, which helped Barton Mallow finish on time and on budget. And perhaps most notable was the first of its kind inflatable concave roof.
SPEAKER_00Here's then Barton Mallow president Raleigh Wilkenen discussing constructing and inflating the Silverdome roof.
SPEAKER_03The roof is supported on steel cables. It would have taken three weeks to string them in the conventional manner. We needed a faster way. Ben Maybeck III and architect Carl Luckenbach joined me at the site as we brought in the largest helicopter available, an S-64 Sikorsky with an FAA rating of 20,000 pounds of lifting capacity. Cables are of galvanized steel, three inches in diameter, range from 550 to 750 feet in length and weigh up to 16,000 pounds each. High winds hampered the operation at first. We immediately closed it down because safety is always our number one consideration. We brought into service a second power winch so that both cable ends were under constant restraint. The cables are secured by open-strand sockets at each end to the tiebacks on the compression ring. Each clevis weighs 300 pounds. The pins each weigh 96 pounds.
SPEAKER_00And now joining us in studio to talk about the Silverdome is a longtime Barton Mallow team member who really needs no introduction. An executive vice president at the time, Ben Mybach III, oversaw various aspects of the Silverdome's construction, including the roof.
SPEAKER_02Hey Ben Mybach, I'm vice chairman, chief community officer, a longtime employee of Barton Mallow. And um you name it, I pretty well done it throughout my career. I'd have to say there's little, if anything, I haven't personally done, and look back how I benefited from all the opportunities and then the N pre-con and then running projects. And I'd have to say in my mid-30s, became a president, but um it was support I had from people throughout the organization, and even today is uh a main factor of why I we have been successful together. What can be accomplished is unlimited. And I've had a very fulfilling career.
SPEAKER_01You were able to see the construction, the conception of the Silverdome, and then now you've seen it implode and be gone, right? And so I guess can you walk us back to maybe where you were at in your career when we started on the Pineappe Silverdome project?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I was head of more pre-construction and uh working in the office. Back then, we didn't have what we called officers or directors, we had project coordinators. So um I wasn't directly involved in the uh Silverdome, but obviously a significant new opportunity for the company.
SPEAKER_01Even though you weren't directly involved with the, I'm sure that you had site visits to it, or you were in the know a little bit, right?
SPEAKER_02As far as what was going on with the No, absolutely. And I think it's of interest. Uh, how did we get involved or how did we get that contract? And uh no sports experience, a sizeful project, but Arnold Mallow lived in Gross Point and knew the um Andersons who were the prime executives with Alliance. And due to that relationship, uh, we were able to be involved early and negotiate a contract uh and be part of the team bringing the Silverdome to reality. As I always say, you never have too many friends, you never know when they can help you. And that absolutely was the trigger to uh our engagement and being part of bringing that project or dream to reality.
SPEAKER_01I mean, there just had to be an enormous amount of trust coming to a contractor that had never built a major stadium and then an architect that had never built a major stadium, right? I mean, yes, he said friendships, but uh that's a whole new level. So let's talk a little bit about the design of it. Do you remember how the original uh stadium was proposed to be open air?
SPEAKER_02Well, our initial contract was an open air stadium. And um, how the sports world evolved back in the 70s, having large sports facilities were a priority, and this seating capacity was just over 80,000. So having the initial design was an open-air stadium. Suites were just coming into play, and um there wasn't a club options or in any uh concept or stadiums throughout the country. And uh even looking at suites, they were not uh really that close. They kind of divided the lower bowl and the upper bowl. But the suites were um Pontiac were um enclosed suites. So you sat inside a suite, and then you walked outside and there was a kind of a suite level, and you sat in no seats to watch the game. But um I go back uh being in the suite, it was like more like sitting at home watching a game than being at a facility.
SPEAKER_01Any reason why they chose the site that they did in Pineact compared to looking in places uh downtown Detroit or anywhere else in the team?
SPEAKER_02Hey, they were in Detroit, and uh, the Lions played at Tiger Stadium, which again in Kansas City was the first venue where they had a separate baseball football. And I'd say by far the majority, if not all, um, sports facilities were joint baseball football. And hey, the reality came in that baseball, you basically needed a 400 by 400 foot playing surface, where football you needed 200 by 400. So sitting near the activities was a major compromise if football being played in the baseball. And then also baseball, everyone wanted to be around the end zone. Where football, they wanted to be on the 50-yard lines. Then how you service your concessions, et cetera, being dominantly around the end zone. There's just all these compromises that finally directed having separate football and uh baseball facilities. Building the Silver Dome, um, it was not an ideal site. Uh, it was a peat bog swamp, and we had a number of um foundation issues that we had to address and stabilize even the parking lots. So that was a challenge. We did do the concrete work uh for the stadiums. Uh, we didn't do the civil or other components, but a the structural tripper vents and uh the size of forms, and it was a major undertaking, uh, the self-performed concrete work that we did on the project.
SPEAKER_00Do you recall what the reaction was like when the decision was made to put a roof on the stadium?
SPEAKER_02It wasn't a surprise. That option or concept was in play from day one. And the original design allowed for to have the uh tint the ring around the stadium that you know accommodated the roof structure. So that option and thought was in play from day one, but wasn't part of the initial contract or when we uh first broke ground.
SPEAKER_00And I think the fabric roof structure is really unique on this because it was the biggest of its time. Previous biggest was, I think, a tennis facility in the Midwest somewhere.
SPEAKER_02Well, in Iowa, there was a one-acre tennis uh facility that had the you talked about a fabric roof that was Teflon coated uh fiberglass. That was the structure. So in the one-acre structure, I think the roof on the Silver Dome was around 12 acres, but in the size and nature was a major step in the uh fabric roof world, you might say.
SPEAKER_00Also unique in how the roof was installed with the use of helicopters over 11 hours to install the brackets and then having to bring in lifts to roll out the fabric.
SPEAKER_02It wasn't so much the roof, it was the cables. And these cables were uh sizable and the connections, and uh but you look at uh the elevation of the ring that went around where the uh cables connected, getting them up there, I would think, was the helicopter option was in play from day one, but I can't uh definitively say. What we did, they were Sikorsky helicopters, the largest. When I say largest, they had the highest uh lifting capacity. And um basically we had a rig uh built that we picked the um cables up in the middle on this arc, and then uh uh the helicopter lift them, took them over to one of the um connecting points, and then well, first uh what we did, we took it to one side, had a some cables to um control it, and then we went to the other side and connected, and then had uh as we lowered it, it pulled the uh cable over. So even lifting the cables, and I can't recall the length of these steel cables, but they were uh sizable length and sizable weight.
SPEAKER_01Were you around it all when they and when they finally got everything in place and were getting ready to try the inflation? And were we successful the first time?
SPEAKER_02Well, then you you have the cables up and then uh erecting the roof, uh having these stages uh working off the cable and attaching the fabric to the cable. Just the whole sequence was intriguing and interesting. And um so we have the um roof structure um fabricated or in place, and it was a major event and uh publicity, all kind of dignitaries there for the inflation. And um again, exactly how the geometry uh is going to work, uh these cables going from a deflated to an inflated, um, nothing really surprising, but it was very interesting. And if us from Barton Mallow knowing what risk we had, that was uh a little anxiety and apprehension, to say the least.
SPEAKER_00I recall you saying something about just sort of the leap of faith it was that uh we weren't even compensated for that work until it was inflated and ready to roll.
SPEAKER_02Well, you talk of risk, and I'm not sure what our net worth was, but uh it probably was um five million, let's say. And we were approached and we actually took on the design responsibility, financed, and built the roof, and then were paid for the roof once it was inflated. Design build was not uh a prime delivery method or something we had done. We hadn't finance projects before. So to do a design build, finance, but on a major new advancement in technology, I don't know if we take that type and size of risk today.
SPEAKER_00It is the first of its kind, though. I'm looking at numbers here. 400,000 square foot roof, 10 acres in size. I mean, you hear of topping out ceremonies and ribbon cuttings and things like that. This had to be a really cool inflation ceremony.
SPEAKER_02No, absolutely. And the a the weather cooperated and a the amount of publicity, I can't say nationally what was in play, but I know locally it was a major event.
SPEAKER_01Can you talk a little bit about some of the um maybe feelings, emotions seeing that roof successfully inflate, knowing again, you mentioned all the risk and everything that we had taken on, um, anxiety that was going. Was there just a could you just sense the feeling of relief a little bit from our team?
SPEAKER_02Inflating the roof, it's a one-time occasion, and hopefully it's uh an uneventful and goes as planned. But um again, the size nature not happening before, and the risk and uh role we played um definitely for the Barton Mallow team. Uh, there was uh extreme high apprehension, uh, concern, and uh from all parties involved, it was more an event than um a wonder from ours. Um it was um of utmost interest and concern.
SPEAKER_00Arguably the bigger accomplishment than the roof, the biggest of its kind, was that this project was finished on time and on budget in a period of high inflation.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, absolutely a fact that was uh very noteworthy. And Sports Illustrated um did an article and it was the I think the title was the house that truth built. And uh it was the Montreal Olympic uh Stadium Fiasco in New Orleans. This was a more noted accomplishment because of the preceding major stadiums and their financial challenge for this one to be on time within budget was uh given more credit and emphasis and strongly influenced why we were brought on board at the Metrodome, uh Georgia Dome, and really set the foundation for us being one of the lead sports contractors in the country, which is in play still today in a major niche that we're benefiting from.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and I think that leads into one of the other questions we had just about how the success of our Silver Dome project led to future work on, you know, the Metro Dome, the Georgia Dome, and then even other projects throughout the nation.
SPEAKER_02The connection uh we've done 17 major league baseball or football stadiums, but doing the Georgia Dome really became a foundation for our dealing with Turner, who uh you know was a major, when I say Turner broadcasting, they were a major client in the Atlanta area. And then with our involvement with the Olympic Stadium, and uh then we came on board with the Braves on the new baseball stadium. But again, I always say you never have too many friends. Uh a performance brings about future opportunities and how things evolved in the sports world and how we have benefited as a company even today. We've always been what I call more conservative with values and what we did, but we've always been innovative with new ideas and concepts. And what we did with the roof on the stadium, what we uh did uh with construction management, pre-construction, value engineering, we uh were out in front of most of our competition as always been kind of our culture and how we have not just been a player but a leader and brought more value to our clients.
SPEAKER_01I was gonna fast forward to several years ago when the Silverdome was imploded. Did you tune into that at all?
SPEAKER_02When I say I was aware and I monitored, I wasn't did didn't make it a point to uh be there. The reality, the air structures, the insurance, the energy cost, the features of that, it was well past its day in usefulness, and the only option was to uh implode it and uh move on to uh higher and better use for today.
SPEAKER_01The reaction that we had, I think, from a lot of our people, and that started to go after they were unsuccessful in clouding it the first time because of how well we built the stadium, right? They had to do it twice. They couldn't do it off the first one, and that was kind of the news that started to at least track through the organization.
SPEAKER_02The idea of we build it too well, um, I won't say that isn't the case, but it's uh spin that sounds good, and we optimized whether they put the right uh charges in and all of that. I'm not uh that involved, but it makes a good story, especially from the Bart Mallow side, about how well it was built. Anything else, Ben, that you want to say regarding the Pineac Silverdome? Looking back at the Silverdome, another key milestone of in our history, a major project, but a niche. And again, a lesson about uh you never have too many friends, and uh by how we perform and what we do, what opportunities we create uh for the future, and fond memories, fond reflections, and another key step milestone in our history that uh we're very grateful for, and we in a true total sense capitalized on.
SPEAKER_00When the Silver Dome opened for the 1975 Detroit Lions season, it marked the biggest dome stadium in North America at the time. The feat that was building it wasn't lost on the construction industry. It earned the Associated General Contractors of America the prestigious Build America Award. The National Society of Professional Engineers named it one of the 10 outstanding engineering achievements in 1975. And Engineering News Record magazine even hailed it as one of the great design and construction achievements of our time.
SPEAKER_01Thank you for listening to this episode of Said Differently. We'll let this clip of former Bart Mallow Chairman of the Board, Ben Mybach Jr., carry us out.
SPEAKER_05For us at Barton Mallow, also it was a memorable moment. Building the stadium has been more than a job to us. It has been an adventure we will never forget.
SPEAKER_00This is said differently, a Barton Mallow Podcast.
SPEAKER_01For more information on the construction of the Silver Dome, including the historic video detailing its construction, visit BartonMallow100.com.
SPEAKER_00This is said differently.