by Russell Boniface
Associate Editor

How do you . . . design a multipurpose arena to be an architectural icon?

Summary: The new Bank of Oklahoma Center (BOK Center) in Tulsa was recently honored as a National Award Winner by the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC). The AISC annually awards projects as part of its Innovative Design in Engineering and Architecture with Structural Steel awards program (IDEAS2). The IDEAS2 awards recognize outstanding achievements in engineering and architecture on structural steel projects. Odell Associates and Matrix Architects, Engineers & Planners, both of Tulsa, were the architects of record, and New Haven, Conn.-based Pelli Clarke Pelli was the design architect.

The BOK Center is a 600,000 square-foot arena with an exterior steel framing system. The outer layer is made up of 33,000 5-by-2 foot stainless steel panels applied in a shingle pattern. There are 1,600 glass panels that vary in size due to the arena’s curvature. Photo credit: 2009 AISC IDEAS2 Awards: Architectural Imageworks, LLC—Gayle Babcock.

The $178 million BOK Center project is an AISC National Award Winner in the category of projects greater than $75 million. The 18,500-seat BOK Center is an arena for a variety of events, including concerts, sports, and gatherings. The BOK Center is owned by the City Of Tulsa and part of Vision 2025, an economic and community infrastructure project. The arena is an architectural icon serving as anchor for Tulsa’s downtown revitalization effort.

Steel and glass geometry
The 600,000-square-foot arena has an exterior steel framing system. The outer layer is composed of 33,000 5-by-2 foot stainless steel panels applied in a shingle pattern. There are 1,600 glass panels along the exterior that vary in size due to the arena’s curvature. A total of 4,500 tons of structural steel was used in construction.

"Aesthetically, this is the most remarkable stadium project I have seen in a long time," says Christina Koch, LEED-AP, editor-in-chief, eco-structure and metalmag magazines, a judge in the AISC competition. Photo credit: 2009 AISC IDEAS2 Awards: Architectural Imageworks, LLC—Gayle Babcock.

“Aesthetically, this is the most remarkable stadium project I have seen in a long time,” says Christina Koch, LEED-AP, editor-in-chief, eco-structure and metalmag magazines, a judge in the AISC competition. “Only steel could have provided the building's curves, and the metal façade is a nice complement.”

The IDEAS2 awards are the highest project-based awards bestowed by the structural steel industry. Roger E. Ferch, president of AISC, says: “The entire BOK Center project team has shown how structural steel can be used to create sustainable buildings that combine beauty and practicality. The result is a facility that serves its visitors extremely well, while providing an example of what can be achieved when designing and constructing projects with steel.”