Sanford Pentagon

This athletic facility was built to be the premier place to play basketball in the region. The Pentagon hosts national, state and regional events and tournaments and is home to the Heritage Court, POWER Basketball Academy, Pentagon Basketball Club, the Sioux Falls Skyforce of the NBA D-League, NSIC Division II Tournament and the South Dakota High School Basketball Hall of Fame. From the general public watching the local development league team to hosting numerous youth and college tournaments on a yearly basis, the facility gives both the athlete and the spectator a great experience.

The 160,000 square-foot facility houses nine basketball courts, including six high school regulation sized courts, two professional/college practice courts, and the main Heritage Court.
While the entire facility features modern design and amenities, the Heritage Court located in the center of the building is a premium NBA/college size court with design inspiration reminiscent of a 1950’s/1960’s basketball gymnasium, surrounded by 3,200 seats for fans, as well as additional luxury box seating. 4.5” x 3” x 4.5” CarbonCast High Performance Insulated Wall Panels were used due to their aesthetic versatility. The attractive three-finish architectural façade provided thermal efficiency (R-15 continuous insulation) as well as the durable interior needed for the facility. The exterior walls totaled 120 pieces and 40,250 square feet of precast.

Designed with precast from the beginning, this project was a Design Build competition with other contractor and architect teams. The aesthetics were designed to blend well with another precast structure across the street but still have a unique look and feel. The architect wanted the entrance to be inviting, while incorporating rich finishes. Precast allowed the desired expression to be achieved while providing a durable, yet economical wall system.

The precaster used one mix with multiple finishes in order to create three distinct shades on the exterior. To create depth and shadows, the panel thickness ranged from 12” to 16”. Due to the shape of the building, nearly all of the 36,000 square feet of hollowcore pieces needed to be cut on a skew, which provided an additional challenge to design and produce.

The stadia plank and landings at the court ends were value engineered for a more efficient design. The span direction of the members was reversed, which created a unique-shaped precast piece. This new piece incorporated the stadia, landing, and stair. This solution reduced the piece counts and simplified the precast erection.