Renovation proposal for Fenway Park

Abstract

As the oldest stadium in baseball history, the existing structure of Fenway Park presents problems such as limiting seating capacity and obstructed views, caused by the columns supporting the second level. Opened in 1912, this stadium is considered one of today's most historical sporting venues. In 2005, the Red Sox ownership announced that the stadium would remain as the home of the Red Sox for years to come. Consequently, considerable investments were made into the stadium to increase seating capacity and to retrofit the structure. This thesis explores the aforementioned main problems, the seating capacity and the obstructed view, and proposes a new design for the seating deck. Two options are explored: one scheme is a stiff structure with concentric bracing and the second scheme is a flexible structure that implements a Tuned Mass Damper to mitigate the vibrations of the cantilevered deck. A design proposal is presented with standard steel sections. It is concluded that the second option is not feasible because it does not comply with the deflection criterion.