Issue date: 11/5/09 Section: News

Media Credit: File Photo--The Battalion The McFerrin Athletic Center, by Kyle Field, was not built with adequate structural supports to withstand high winds, according to a recent report. [Click to enlarge]

The McFerrin Athletic Center was not built to adequately withstand high winds, according to a university-hired engineering firm,

The bubble-like structure was designed and built by Summit Structures LLC based out of Allentown, Pennsylvania. The same company gained notoriety when the Dallas Cowboys' practice facility, a Summit design, collapsed in May.

Interim president R. Bowen Loftin hired a group from Haynes Whaley Associates in Houston to analyze the safety of the building, which consists of both a track and a football field.

Haynes Whaley Vice President Mark Thompson told the University in September that he and his firm thought the building could not sustain winds up to 90 mph, which is a national standard.

Thompson also said the building was compromised to such an extent that it should be closed.

A&M, however, decided not to do so after further discussion with Whaley and because the building withstood high winds during Hurricane Ike.

Engineers and architects decided the center could stand in winds up to 60 mph.

Due to the collapse of the Dallas Cowboys facility and Whaley's findings, Summit added multiple cables to the facility's steel frames. More repairs could be made if necessary.

"A&M has installed reinforced cabeling in the McFerrin Center at request by the independent firm," said VP of Marketing Communications Jason Cook. "The installation of the cables was successfully completed in September."

"The indoor football facility has been certified to withstand 90 mph burst, and the track facility has been certified at 75 mph and we're awaiting results on if it, too, passes."

The Dallas Cowboys' practice field collapsed on May 2. Twelve were injured, and scout Rich Behm was paralyzed from the waist down. The building was the fifth Summit structure to collapse since 2002. The National Institute of Standards and Technology produced findings that said the structure collapsed in winds of 55 to 65 mph and that flaws in the design were to blame.

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