|
|
Designing a memorial |
||
Ken Corbin had a very distinct challenge when he began designing the David Allen Memorial Ballpark. The Enid architect had to keep two things in mind; one, that the ballpark was a memorial to David Allen, the son of Paul and Joan, whose investment into the project made the facility what it is. Secondly, that the building was to look like an old-time ballpark, not a new, trendy building. |
|
|
| The building was not intended to be
trendy because it was indeed a memorial, and secondly, a trendy facility wouldn't fit in
the part of town the new ball park is located. Designed by Corbin, along with wife, Katherine, John Merz, Hossein Dehdezi and realized by Bass Construction and a number of sub contractors, the David Allen Memorial Ballpark looks just like what it was intended to be. "We were honored to be entrusted with doing a building that was so important,"Corbin said. "It's a memorial as well as being a ballpark and we took that very seriously." Corbin was careful in selecting materials that would last and would fit within the idea of being a memorial to David Allen, as well as keeping in mind the idea that it should look old. "It's a building that will be here for a long time, " Corbin said. "We wanted to be sensitive to that issue. A lot of building are made with temporary type materials like sheet metal, plywood, etc. We chose materials like brick, concrete and steel." One of the ballpark's features that exemplifies the old-time look coupled with the memorial theme is the brick arches outside the stadium. The arches are a true brick construction with nothing behind them. Some brick structures simply have the brick laid outside a wall for effect but the support structure is the material behind the brick. "Those are true brick arches," Corbin said. "They are not held up by any other means. The brick walls actually hold the walls up. a lot of ballparks, in my opinion, have been made to look old with trendy-type things. We tried to make the building look old by using building methods they used 40 years ago." As such, the bricks themselves look "weathered," with curves, holes and pits. Another one of the key features of the ballpark is it's green chair back seats, which were originally located in Memorial Stadium, home of the Baltimore Orioles. The Orioles were David's favorite team. The idea to have such seating came after Corbin, the Allen's and Bill Mayberry went on a field trip to Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City. The group didn't take the trip for any specific reason, but after the trip Joan remarked to Corbin about the fixed seating at Bricktown, which among other things made the ballpark look nice when it was empty and provided a nice focal point to the park. Fixed seats at the David Allen Memorial Ballpark would provide those same functions, as well as providing seats for visiting fans who may not have brought their own lawn chairs. Corbin had the phone number from a company that sold reconditioned seats from major league parks. Corbin called the company, and by luck of the draw, the company did in fact have seats from Baltimore's Memorial Stadium. But all the seating was designed to be fan-friendly. Being his first ballpark, Corbin sought the advice from Mayberry, the Enid High athletic director, who has dreamed of building a park since he came to Enid High as its athletic director almost 10 years ago. Mayberry consulted with Corbin on the "baseball stuff." Mayberry, a former college baseball coach and builder of other baseball fields on a smaller scale, saved Corbin's office some research time. Corbin was specifically selected by the Allen's to do the project. Corbin had worked with the Allen's before. The David Allen Memorial Ballpark took about six months for Corbin to draw, with actual "working time" being about four months, he said. He's done other sports venues such as the Chisholm High School Fieldhouse and the gymnasium at Oklahoma Bible Academy. Corbin said he couldn't compare those to the David Allen Memorial Ballpark. But he did say it was one of his most sensitive products. Article from the souvenir
book commemorating the grand opening of the Contributing writers |
