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Idaho Central Credit Union Arena

With its new basketball arena, the University of Idaho has a reference project made of wood with a large span in North America. The multi-purpose hall is not only the home of the Idaho Vandals college basketball team, but also offers enough space for a variety of other events with 4,000 seats.
Unique features of this project is the efficient timber/steel portal frame

The entire frame was pre-assembled on site into three large components to minimize work at height. Complex timber engineering was required to design the thrust connection between beam and column to transfer over 450,000 lbs. of compression. The kingpost trusses span over 150 ft. across the main arena.
One of the key challenges was installation of these heavy elements with a crane in the bowl. A parametric model of the trusses was created using genetic algorithms to perform a structural optimization on the trusses, while respecting aesthetic numerous objectives.
This created structural efficiency and, importantly, reduced weights of the prefabricated pieces. This also allowed the project budget to be maintained. Due to the high forces acting on the beams and supports, special, high-quality RAPID® fullthread screws were also used.

  • Architect

    Opsis Architecture

  • Structural Engineer & Builder

    Structure Craft

  • Completion

    2021