The construction of the retractable roof at the new Miami Ballpark, soon to be the new home of major league baseball’s Miami Marlins, received an award in the Steel Projects category at the 2011 Tekla Structures North America BIM Awards. This is the second consecutive year that InteliBuild has received top honors at the annual competition, which is organized by the Tekla Structures software developer. In 2010, the CONSOL Energy Center, the new arena of the Pittsburgh Penguins, was selected by the jury for an award in the same category.
As part of the Miami Ballpark project, InteliBuild produced the central BIM model that was shared by the steel contractor, the erector and the steel deck supplier. The integration of the different trades in the central model facilitated the work scheduling and reduced errors at the jobsite. InteliBuild’s model also featured prefabricated concrete components such as the rails along which the roof sections travel when opening and closing.
Simulations were integrated in the BIM model in order to eliminate any possibility of clashes between the three roof sections. The most complex portion of the project was the assembly of the wishbone plates that are mounted on the northernmost section of the 12 roof girders. Each wishbone weighs 16 tons and is composed of approximately 50 steel plates.
Between October 2009 and April 2011, a team of 40 drafters from InteliBuild’s offices in St. Georges, Quebec, and Brasov, Romania, produced 7,100 drawings depicting the exact dimension and location of the 7,200 tons of steel components that were used in the construction of the retractable roof.
Congratulations to everyone who took part in this project!
