Snapdragon Stadium is a new 35,000-capacity venue providing a state-of-the-art home for San Diego State University Aztec Football. The stadium is also a hub for other sports and entertainment, including professional and collegiate soccer, NCAA championship games, and concerts. The stadium’s design includes concourse level “neighborhoods,” and standing-room-only “piers” that jut out over stadium seating for a coastal vibe.
Project Highlights
- Raymond installed over 2,000 linear feet of exterior wall framing with some walls spanning 35’ tall, over 50,000 square feet of DensGlass, 20,000 square feet of rigid insulation, a 20,000 square foot plaster ceiling underneath the scoreboard along with 30 smaller entryway plaster soffit/ceilings.
- Raymond framed the roofs of all 18 outbuildings, which required up to 12”, 12 gauge joists at 12” on center.
- The site boasts over 12 unique bars in which Raymond installed the low walls and the substrate for tile.
- Raymond’s fireproofing crew shot over 2,000 bags of Monokote throughout the entirety of the project, along the five different levels.
- Raymond completed the interior light gauge metal framing with over 25,000 linear feet of interior walls, 5,000 linear feet of interior soffits, and over 50,000 square feet of interior ceilings.
- Raymond framed and installed Durock on the project’s 50’ tower elevator.
- Raymond installed over 850,000 square feet of interior mold resistant drywall and completed 600,000 square feet of finish taping with half of that being Level 5 finish along the five levels and 18 outbuildings.
- The project had over 5,000 square feet of interior plywood for data rooms, 50,000 square feet of fiber reinforced plastic (FRP), and even had interior Hardie panels inside the press box.
- Along the suite levels, Raymond installed flute covers at the underside of the fluted deck as an alternative to castle cutting the DensGlass and trims, resulting in a much cleaner look for the lath and plaster.
There was almost zero repetition on the Snapdragon Stadium project, with each room offering something different and new. There were many areas on the project that required a Level 5 finish with critical lighting. The many suites and clubs have intricate soffits and ceilings to complement the lighting and the stadium’s plaster system along the suite levels provides an appealing backdrop to the stadium.
One challenge of the project was material. When Raymond started on the project, material allocation was at its highest with a 12-to-16-week lead time for metal. The team came together and ordered almost half of the metal needed before stepping foot on the jobsite. And, although the site itself was very large, there was very little room for material laydown. Raymond utilized just-in-time deliveries in coordination with the material supplier. Another large challenge was the stadium’s wide footprint; getting from one end of the job to the other took valuable time.
Raymond is proud to have completed the Snapdragon Stadium with over 88,000 hours of work and zero injuries! A shout out to our employees who had full buy-in and personal accountability of our safety program to help keep themselves and those around them safe.
