Dreamstyle Arena (AKA The Pit)
The Concept
Tom L. Popejoy, UNM president 1948-1968, is responsible for many new buildings on the UNM campus and The Pit was one of UNM’s most transformative projects that President Popejoy envisioned. Coach Bob King was hired in 1962 and quickly turned the Lobos into a winning program and began selling out home games leading Popejoy to the idea that UNM needed a larger venue for mens and womens basketball. President Popejoy along with Coach Bob King and Architect Joe Boehning created a visual plan and stadium style that would be recognized by architects and sports enthusiasts across the country.
The prior home of Lobo Basketball was the Johnson Gymanasium which held 7,000 people and Univerity President Popejoy wanted to more than double the seating capacity by bulding a new stadium that would seat 15,000 people. Popejoy envisioned a stadium that allowed attendees to be as close to the action as possible with no objects restricting their view of the court. Coach Bob King was responible for the court design and Architect Joe Boehning was responsible for the stadium and lot design. Original plans also detailed making the arena with a detachable floor to hold hockey and other sports but the plans were deleted due to high cost.
Joe Boehning, Architect of Univerity Arena and graduate of UNM Architecture School
Tom L. Popejoy, University of New Mexico President 1948-1968
Bob King, Lobos mens basketball coach 1962-1972
Construction
In 1965 bidding for the project was won by The House Construction Company and construction began swiftly. The stadium design of Boehning underwent transformations while under construction. The reverse dome design bacame a solution to a budgeting problem faced in completing the project. The Pit floor currently rests 37 feet below ground level but this was not the original plan. During the begginnings of the construction process, managers of the project quickly realized that the amount of scaffolding required to buld the stadium above ground would send the project over the 1.5 million dollar budget(roughly 10 million dollars today).
Also creating an arena of this magnitude without supporting columns would not work above ground. These issues led Boehning to adjust his original architecture and design a stadium with only 15 feet of scaffolding above the ground level. Completion time of the project was only one year and The Pit opened its doors to the public on December 10, 1966. The Pit would be in its original form of construction until renovations in 1975 and 2009.
Foreman Harold Boutwell looking through plans
The Pit Blueprint
The Pit not only created a buzz among the community, the arena drastically changed the landacape it was built on and the overall image of the surrounding area itself. The Pit is in direct view of the I-25 highway and since being built people, Albuquerque Native citizens and others driving through Albuquerque, in 1966 saw a legitimate view of The Pit instead of a edge of the city desert. What the arena also achieved was giving UNM a larger physical presence in the Albuquerque community, although The Pit is not directly attached by land to the main campus the arena gives UNM the optics of being much larger in Albuquerque than just a small Division-1 campus.
Arial View of Construction 1965 and large amout of previously not utilized land
Post Construction
The Pit held its first college basketball game on December 1, 1966 with the mens basketball team defeating Abilene Christian College 62-53. Following completion The Pit grew in season attendance numbers constistently due to larger seating capacity and excitement about the first Albuquerque basketball stadium that could rival any other in the college basketball genre. The Pit would gain national recognition throughout the years and in 1999 The Pit was awarded #13 on the list of favorite places in the world to view sports by Sports Illustrated Magazine, second among universities. Although ovrerall attendance for basketball games has dropped in recent years NCAA.com stated that The Pit still ranks 29th among 353 division 1 colleges with an average attendance of 11,159 fans per game. The consistnency of attendance shows how much Albuquerque aprreciates having such an amazing sports venue.
Season attendance Statistics
Lobo mens team 1966
The Name
The original name of Dreamstyle Arena in 1966 was University Stadium. University Stadium would later be renamed WisePies Arena in 2014, and the current name Dreamstyle Arena in 2017. The official name of the arena has changed over the years due to contractual sponsorship but Albuquerque has always know the Arena as The Pit. Originally The Pit was a nickname for the arena invented by students at the University of New Mexico and the nickname has been the unnofficial title of the arena since 1966.
Renovation Projects
The first renovation project since the original construction of The Pit was undertaken in 1975. The 1975 project expanded concession and concourse spaces while adding 2800 seats in the process. The total cost of the project was 2.2 million and could be categorized as small additions to an already existing design.
1975 Renovations Guidelines from Boehning
The first large scale renovation since 1966 would happen in 2009 when UNM decided to give the entire building a facelift on the exterior and bring the facility up to state of the art standards as a whole. The 2009 renovation did face some opposition due to its design that would cut out the upper mezzanine seating area to put in reservable suites. The suites inside The Pit unfortunately are frequently seen empty during games and have not been helping pay for the renovation, one of the main reasons the suites were included. The project did achive the goal of creating a state of the art arena but it came with a 60 million dollar pricetag in contrast to a 25 million dollar appraisal.
Noteable achivements of the renovation included the following
The Pit’s location affords easy access to local community services (SS 2), public transportation (SS 4.1), and bicycle storage & changing rooms (SS 4.2). Water Efficiency Landscape and irrigation systems include native and adapted plants and efficient irrigation systems yielding a 71% reduction of potable water compared to the baseline. Selection of efficient faucets, lavatories, urinals, shower heads and toilets contribute to a 47.3% water savings over the Energy Policy Act of 1992. Energy Efficiency Energy-efficient measures include insulating the exterior shell and roof, high performance windows, decreased interior and exterior lighting power, 95% efficient boiler for underfloor radiant heat, and efficient constant volume recirculation pump. Materials and Resources Over 93% of the existing walls, floors, and roof have been maintained in the renovation. Construction waste management activities diverted 95.1% of disposed materials from the landfill and toward recycling, salvage or reuse. 5,200 tons of concrete and 3,416 tons of asphalt from the existing facility were crushed into aggregate and reused on the project as sub-base and fill. Indoor Environmental Quality Outside air ventilation rates exceed the national ventilation standard ASHRAE 62.1-2004 by over 30%. Innovation in Design Process 47.3% water use reduction qualifies The Pit for an exemplary performance point in WE 3 – Water Use Reduction. On-site open space equal to twice the building footprint has been designated and will be conserved for the life of the building, allowing The Pit project to submit for exemplary performance in SS 5.2 – Maximize Open Space.
The Pit entrance 2003
The Pit entrance 2019
Other Events at The Pit
The Pit is the home of Lobo Basketball but the arena has also hosted many other events including the PBR Ty Murray Invitiational multiple years, New Mexico High School Basketball Tournaments, Led Zepplin Concert 1973, New Mexico High School Graduations, NCAA College basketball tournament games in 1968, 1978, 1983, 1985, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2002, 2005, and 2012.
Bibliography
“Pit Arena Addition and Renovation - Albuquerque, New Mexico.” Design Balance Missoula Montana - Sustainable Design and Resource Efficiency Consulting, www.design-balance.com/pitarenaadditionandrenovation.html.
“Tom L. Popejoy Society.” University of New Mexico Foundation, 13 July 2017, www.unmfund.org/popejoy-society/.
University of New Mexico Athletics Department Records 1890-2011. University of New Mexico Athletics Department. Collection UNMA 106. University of New Mexico Center for Southwest Research. Vertical Files Athletics-Arena. Box 6.
Grammer, Geoff. “Not What It Was, but Lobo Hoops Attendance Holds up Nationally.” Albuquerque Journal, www.abqjournal.com/1287114/not-what-it-was-but-lobo-hoops-attendance-still-strong-nationally.html. 1 Mar 2019, 8:16 pm.
