Jeff Ewens is of a jovial nature and tickles the funny bone. A Principal with ME Engineers its sports design expertise brought them to the table for the University of Nebraska (US) – The Osborne Legacy Complex – project –which has set the bar high for the collegiate athletic environments.
Jeff Ewens is a Mechancial Engineer and a Principal with ME Engineers. With nearly 30 years of experience in the design of building systems, Ewens has played a key role in shaping the next generation of professional and collegiate sports facilities across the United States. Ewens oversees ME Engineers’ Kansas City office delivering innovative sports venues that combine facility efficiency with a premium environment for the players and the fans alike.
In an exclusive chat with ‘Coliseum’, Jeff Ewens, PE LEED AP Principal, ME Engineers, US, shares how the University of Nebraska – The Osborne Legacy Complex – project is in a class of its own and collegiate athletics centers today are very spiffy and state-of-the-art with no comparison to yesterdays which are already days of yore.
ME Engineers
Golden (US)-based ME Engineers has earned a reputation as a global leader in the design of innovative MEPT systems that bring to life the world’s most innovative sports and entertainment venues. ME Engineer’s projects also include large-scale commercial developments, convention centers, higher education buildings, and healthcare facilities. ME’s specialty services include building performance modeling, sustainability design, architectural lighting design, sports lighting design, and commissioning.
Jeff Ewens began by stating, “We talk a lot about many major sports venues – professional sports, stadiums and this project – University of Nebraska – The Osborne Legacy Complex – brought us to the surface. One kind of really rises to the surface as being truly game-changing, really game-changing and that is the Tom Osborne Legacy Complex. This project was a state-of-the-art brand-new collegiate for all training facilities for the University of Nebraska. Its sole purpose was to be a holistic elevation of Husker football on campus. Essentially, the days are gone of college athletes training at the baseball league rooms with medicine balls and dumb ball racks. They have now become the most state-of-the-art premium sport performance centers that we have seen at our industry. The arrival of professional sports in this project case they may be surpassed.”
“The defining features of the facility make it truly remarkable. The construction cost for the project was $165M. It is a 315,000 square feet facility and the Osborne Legacy Complex essentially creates a new landmark for sports and athletics on campus. The front door of the building is called the Nebraska football experience lobby. The front door of the building and there was a unique design on that and the red glow that was designed for this to be a really inviting connection between the community and college athletics. The ME Engineers Lighting Design team was challenged with creating the red glow both on the inside and the outside surface of the roof without disturbing the beautiful transparency of the façade. So, we leveraged some relationships with some manufacturers to develop a custom light fixture with a custom housing and bracketery that tied in to the curtain wall system and the hidden lighting design that rises both from inside and the outside of the curtain wall.”
Wrap-up
Jeff Ewens wrapped up by stating, “The Atrium gives a sense of the sheer size and complexity of the building. The collegiate training facilities are not the facilities of yesterday anymore and they are totally sleek and spiffy.” The Osborne Legacy Complex bears testimony to it.
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