Case Study: Practice Field

The Miami Dolphins, a professional NFL football team, needed an indoor practice facility. The tropical climate in South Florida tends to produce intense afternoon thunderstorms which are normally accompanied by severe lightning. This resulted in a large number of cancelled practices which could adversely affect the team's performance. Nova Southeastern University donated land to the Dolphins on their campus in Davie, FL in exchange for use of the facility when not in use by the Dolphins.

The structure is an air-supported dome design and all the storm water runoff from the dome and a section of the adjacent parking lot was routed to a StormTech chamber bed. StormTech chambers cannot be placed beneath permanent structures, however, the air-supported dome design allowed for the chambers to be placed under the playing field. This allowed for the storage of a large volume of stomwater runnoff, 160,000 cubic feet, within a small development area.

Above is the layout for the StormTech chamber bed beneath the playing field.