Union High School Tuttle Stadium Expansion & Performing Arts Center Renovation - Union Public Schools ISD 9

K-12 education spaces are more than just classrooms and labs, they're spaces to enrich students' lives through athletics and the arts. The renovation of Union High School's Union Tuttle Stadium and Performing Arts Center in Tulsa brings that purpose to life.

Henderson Engineers collaborated with the design team to provide thoughtful building systems design solutions. Upgrades included a 64,050 SF new construction addition that houses a new press box, a visitor section to support 10,000 fans, weight rooms, a nutrition room, locker rooms, concessions, band rooms, practice rooms, offices, and restrooms. Among the upgrades, a new practice facility was added for the men’s and women’s wrestling teams, while backfill renovations to the main school building created dedicated areas for fine arts and spirit programs. The marching band now enjoys a practice and warm‑up space located directly off the field.

To provide conditioning for these new spaces, our designs included adding a third cooling tower cell, replacing the existing 750-ton chiller and incorporating a new part-load 300-ton chiller, and converting the chilled water system to variable flow. We also added a new boiler plant to provide heating and hot water. The new band building allowed the school to incorporate the largest in-stadium screen in Oklahoma with more than 2,000 SF of video board incorporated to make sure no fan misses a play.

As with any large gathering space, safety was a top concern for us as we expanded the fire protection and life safety systems to a level that rivals those in college and professional stadia. In addition to coordinating with the local fire department early and often to utilize systems that provide an effective fire protection system while saving the district money, this project included a full fire alarm replacement of the existing east stadium grandstand to provide a single, seamless fire alarm system for the complex. Our experts led discussions between the district and fire department to allow the system to incorporate Positive Alarm Sequencing (PAS). The PAS mode is utilized any time the stadium is at or above 30% capacity with the goal of avoiding a full evacuation in the event of a false alarm. Our designs, in conjunction with the commissioning completed by our sister company, Henderson Building Solutions, ensure the students and community only have to think about cheering on the Redhawks.