Kansas football facility architect selected

Kansan.com reports:

The University of Kansas Athletic Department has reportedly selected HNTB, an architecture firm with offices in Kansas City, Mo., and Overland Park, to build a new football facility near Memorial Stadium.

A spokeswoman from HOK, an architecture firm with an office in Kansas City, Mo., said HOK was notified Jan. 3 that HNTB received the design rights.

HOK was in competition with HNTB to design the project.

A representative for HNTB would not confirm the contract. HNTB interviewed for the contract in December, said Randy Bredar, a HNTB architect who specializes in sports.

I don t know how we did it, he said, when asked how his company beat out HOK.

Bredar referred all further questions to Associate Athletics Director Jim Marchiony.

Marchiony would not confirm whether HNTB was selected to design the facilities.

We re still dotting the i s and crossing the t s, he said.

An official announcement outlining the department s plans for the facility could come as early as Thursday, he said, and the Athletics Department would hold a ceremony to unveil them.

The two firms are highly ranked in Engineering News-Record s ranking of the top 500 design firms. In 2005, HOK ranked first and HNTB ranked second.

HNTB s resum includes several projects in athletics.

It designed Invesco Field at Mile High Stadium for the Denver Broncos, renovations and improvements to the University of Georgia s Sanford Stadium, Oregon State s Reser Stadium, and Ohio State University s Ohio Stadium, according to HNTB s Web site.