Higher Education
The University of Alabama New Arena
Client
Anderson Construction Company
Project Owner
The University of Alabama
Location
Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Project Value
$58,000,000
Industry
Higher Education
Account Executive(s)
Tom Thomas, Trey Wilson
Services Provided
Construction Logistics Animations |
Renderings & Animations |
Still Renderings |
Higher Education
The University of Alabama New Arena
Client
Anderson Construction Company
Project Owner
The University of Alabama
Location
Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Project Value
$58,000,000
Industry
Higher Education
Account Executive(s)
Tom Thomas, Trey Wilson
Services Provided
Construction Logistics Animations |
Renderings & Animations |
Still Renderings |
Project Overview
The University of Alabama pursued a $58 million arena in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, designed to house Men's and Women's Basketball and Gymnastics while also accommodating concert events. The arena was planned with an intimate, game-day fan experience as its central design goal, achieved in part by depressing the event level 27 to 30 feet below grade so fans enter at main concourse level. A portion of the southern concourse and seating was designed on grade to minimize excavation. PRESWERX supported the client's pursuit with renderings and animations that brought this complex, below-grade venue to life for the University's selection panel.
Client Challenges
The client needed to compete for a high-profile university arena with a technically complex design that posed significant visualization challenges:
Communicating the unique fan experience of a below-grade arena to an owner audience that may not immediately grasp the spatial impact of a 27-to-30-foot excavation on the event atmosphere.
Visualizing a facility with unresolved geotechnical conditions, requiring pursuit visuals that captured the design intent without over-committing to site details not yet confirmed.
Differentiating the team in a competitive arena pursuit where the quality of the visual presentation would directly reflect the client's understanding of the owner's vision.
The client needed visuals that made a technically complex, partially below-grade venue feel exciting, achievable, and well-understood.
Scope of Work
PRESWERX produced renderings and animations for the client's pursuit of the University of Alabama's new arena. The work focused on conveying the arena's distinctive fan experience, particularly the below-grade event level and concourse entry sequence that defined the building's spatial character. Renderings captured the arena's exterior presence and interior atmosphere, while animations brought the fan journey to life, from arrival through the main concourse to the below-grade event floor. The finished visuals gave the client a compelling, spatially accurate representation of the proposed facility to present to the University's selection committee.
PRESWERX Approach
PRESWERX centered the visual work on the element that made this arena distinct: the decision to depress the event level below grade in pursuit of an intimate, immersive fan experience.
Developed renderings that communicated the arena's scale, exterior presence, and the quality of the fan environment the design was intended to create.
Produced animations that followed the fan journey from arrival at the main concourse level down into the event space, making the below-grade concept tangible and exciting rather than abstract.
Calibrated the visual content to reflect the design team's intent without overclaiming on site details that remained unresolved at the time of the pursuit.
The result was a visual package that communicated what made the arena concept compelling and gave the client a strong platform for the University's review.
Results Delivered
PRESWERX delivered renderings and animations that gave the client a visually precise, experience-focused pursuit package for a competitive university arena selection.
Renderings established the arena's architectural presence and the quality of its interior environment, giving the University a clear picture of what the client's team envisioned for the campus.
Animations translated the below-grade fan experience into a dynamic, spatial narrative that made the design concept accessible and compelling to a nontechnical owner audience.
The finished visual package gave the client a differentiated set of pursuit materials centered on the fan experience story the arena's design was built around.
The client entered the University of Alabama selection process with a polished visual case for why their approach to this arena would deliver on the owner's vision for an intimate, game-day destination.
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