Opportunity

Lucas Oil Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana. It replaced the RCA Dome as the home field of the National Football League (NFL)’s Indianapolis Colts and opened on August 16, 2008. The stadium was constructed to allow the removal of the RCA Dome and expansion of the Indiana Convention Center on its site. Architectural firm HKS, Inc. was responsible for the stadium’s design, with Walter P Moore working as the Structural Engineer of Record. The stadium features a retractable roof and a large retractable window on one end, allowing the Colts and the Indy Eleven to play both indoors and outdoors. The retractable north window offers a view of downtown Indianapolis during games, concerts, and other events due to the stadium’s angled position on the city block.

Challenge

The operable window consists of six (6) panels – three (3) panels to the East, three (3) panels to the West), measuring 88’H x 244’ W (first in the NFL).  Automation was needed to control the window, which takes approx. 11 minutes to open. The Indiana Stadium and Convention Building Authority and Uni-Systems Engineering, an industry leader in retractable stadium roofing out of Minnesota, were in charge of the project. Ideally, they were looking for a 10” HMI that had Profibus interface.

Solution

Horner Automation offered to donate one of our 10” QX Series controllers in order to be a part of such a historic local building project. Horner’s QX Series (now Legacy product), was set up to control the operable wall of windows at the stadium. This allows the windows to be opened, giving the visitors an incredible view of the Indianapolis skyline, or closed to protect from the elements outside.