J.S. Dorton Arena

State Fair Arena
Good

J.S. Dorton Arena

Site overview

The Dorton Arena stands as one of the earliest architectural examples of a concrete parabolic suspension structure. The design was conceived by Matthew Nowicki, a Polish immigrant, and ultimately carried out by architect William H. Deitrick, aided by the consultant New York engineering firm of Severud, Elstad and Krueger, following Nowicki’s death in a plane crash in India in 1950. Photographs and a model of the arena were exhibited in the Milan International Exposition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts and Modern Architecture of 1957. That same year, the arena appeared in the centennial publication of the American Institute of Architects as one of ten twentieth century buildings expected to exert the most significant influence on future American architecture.

Primary classification

Recreation (REC)

Terms of protection

National Register of Historic Places, April 11, 1973

Designations

U.S. National Register of Historic Places, listed on April 11, 1973

Author(s)

Gary Koll | | 9/2004

How to Visit

On view at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds

Location

1025 Blue Ridge Road
Raleigh, NC, 27607

Country

US
More visitation information

Designer(s)

Other designers

Architects: Matthew Nowicki, William Henry DeitrickStructural engineer: Fred N. Severud. Severud, Elsted & Krueger

Related chapter

North Carolina Modernist Houses

Commission

1949

Completion

1953

Commission / Completion details

commission 1949(e), completed 1953(e)

Current Use

Multipurpose arena.

Current Condition

Good.

General Description

The arena is eliptical in shape with a saddle-shaped roof supported by two intersecting parabolic arches. Enclosing walls are vertical bands of rectangular windows set between concrete columns. In plan the building measures approximately 300 feet each direction on the exterior. the interior floor measures 221 feet long by 127 feet wide. In addition to the main floor there are north and south lobbiesas well as two lower level concourses that in total provide about 25,000 square feet of exhibition space. Seating capacity ranges from 5,110, in 4,750 fixed seats and 360 box seats, to 7,600 with portable seats and a stage installed. Support spaces include concessions, restrooms, locker rooms and shower areas.

Construction Period

Parabolic arches, floor and tiers below fixed seating are concrete. The cable-suspended roof is corrugated metal decking covered with a bonded roofing membrane. Perimeter columns are concrete-encased steel. Windows are steel framed with tinted, glare-reducing glass.

Original Physical Context

The J.S. Dorton Arena is located on the North Carolina State Fairgrounds. The site is flat and the immediate context is limited landscaped areas to the north and south of the building with parking lots beyond. To the east and west are low-rise exhibition buildings which form a relatively neutral visual background to the dramatic form of the arena. Further to the north is a dirt racetrack.

Technical

An early surface-stressed structure, the arena has a roof suspended on a network of cables strung between two parabolic arches. The arches, which lean away from each other and reach a height of 90 feet, intersect approximately 26 feet above the ground before going below the surface into concrete footings. The footings at the ends of each arch are tied together by steel cables running through a concrete tunnels on the east and west sides. The design approach was technically quite innovative for its time.

Social

The arena was originally intended to be just a livestock pavilion. By completion, however, it was given expanded use reflecting the ongoing need for flexibility in the design of indoor venues.

Cultural & Aesthetic

The tent-like, saddle-shaped roof is considered the first use of doubly-curved suspension form in architecture. In this case, where the tiered seating of the arena and the line of the roof rise in parallel, the building's shape also perfectly compliments the needs of the functions taking place inside.

Historical

By the early 1950s there was increased interest in the structural possibilities and resulting forms of tension structures. Dorton Arena represents a breakthrough in the design of such buildings and was the largest catenary, cable-supported roof constructed in the United States since the Chicago World's Fair of 1933. While Matthew Nowicki was killed shortly after designing the arena, other architects - notably Eero Saarinen also working with Severud's engineering firm on the Ingalls Hockey Rink at Yale University - were influenced by the forward-thinking design.

General Assessment

The arena continues to well fulfill its original function. When new the building integrated structure into a dramatic architectural design that set a precedent for the development of later buildings with unique tension-structure designs.

References

\"Parabolic pavilion." Architectural Forum 97 (October 1952) p. 134-9, 162.Wood, E. "Radical settles down in Raleigh, N.C. AIA Journal 69 (September 1980) p. 54-81. | http://www.hpo.ncdcr.gov/nr/WA0012.pdf