Emmanuel George Glyniadakis
"A Sports Center" (MS 1964)
Advisor: Myron Goldsmith
Others acknowledged: Fazlur Khan, David Sharpe and J. Bowman
Model Photographs: Aaron Siskind
Material: Steel
Structural system: Two-way roof system, 4 square bays
Maximum span: 405 ft.
“A building of modern form, not only utilitarian but also expressing the society, reflecting the significance of the Greek Palaestra and the Roman Baths, has been the subject of this thesis.”
For his thesis, Emmanuel Glyniadakis reimagined the large-scale olympic venue. An 810 foot square area was needed to accommodate a 13,000 seat arena, running track, an olympic-size swimming pool and many smaller functions. Although a clear span was considered, a more economical solution was pursued with columns at midspan.
The building is 810 feet square, with a two-way grid of plate girders for the roof system. The girders are 17.5 feet deep and spaced on 45 feet centers in both directions. The roof is supported by 87 foot high cross shaped columns located at the four corners and at midspan such that the maximum span is 405 feet. The enclosing glass walls are located in plane with the center of the perimeter columns.
Glyniadakis wrote that once the system was selected “the rest of the effort was concentrated in the correct use of materials, in the development of a clear, well articulated structure, the proper scale and right proportions, and in the proper relationships of the part to the whole.”
