For most of its history, the Univ. of Utah’s athletic programs competed in lower-echelon athletic leagues, such as the Western Athletic and Mountain West conferences. The Utes’ football program occasionally notched landmark achievements, such as its 2004 and 2008 undefeated seasons – the latter of which included a shellacking of Alabama in the 2009 Sugar Bowl – but the school entered a brave new world when it entered the Pac-12 conference in 2011. Moving up to compete against Oregon, Stanford, UCLA and others for top players, the school wisely pursued making its football facilities a showpiece.
In collaboration with Infinite Scale (Salt Lake City), which designed the environmental graphics, Rainier Industries (Tukwila, WA) fabricated a series of signs and 3-D elements. Bruce Dickinson, Rainier’s vice president, said athletic-facility environments represent approximately half of its business.
“These spaces are working environments, and the décor and displays must be functional and durable,” he said. “The materials used have to support those requirements.”
To create wow factor at the point of entry, Infinite Scale specified a diagonally suspended Utah “U” for the lobby. Rainier fabricated the piece from an aluminum-extrusion frame decorated with silicone-edge graphics, which enable easy replacement when necessary, printed on a Durst dye-sublimation printer.
To keep steam spirit strong in the team’s meeting room, Rainier fabricated “I Am a Utah Man” (the name of the school fight song) wall graphics, which comprise dye-sublimated Dreamscape wall-graphic media supported by fabric frames. A facility corridor touts that epic 2008 season with a Dreamscape dye-sublimation-printed wallcovering. Inspirational, gritty quotes – a fixture within football facilities – were fabricated from letters cut from Sintra PVC panels, with a backdrop that comprises a dye-sublimated wall covering and 3-D elements crafted from flatbed-printed graphics applied directly to metal panels.
Dickinson said the project’s most complex element involved the illuminated, interactive wall that displays information about former Ute players who now ply their trade in the NFL. He noted several “trial-and-error” attempts to build these elements. LEDs set within the wall are sensor-activated
to create a set program when someone enters the room. The player graphics were created as second-surface acrylic, and the helmets were affixed using a custom-built bracket.
“We were given quite a challenging timeline,” Dickinson said. “We had two weeks to complete three floors of graphic displays. We pulled a few all-nighters, but it turned out great. The players and coaches loved it!”