United Sculpture at Allianz Field
Sitting equidistant between the twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, the UNITED sculpture forms a bridge that unites the two cities and their communities around a love of sport.
United Sculpture at Allianz Field Video
The Challenge
The design team was challenged to find a meaningful way to honor a special group of season ticket members for Minnesota United FC's inaugural 2017 MLS season.
These fans, called the Itasca Society, were the true believers who came together to support the club in their first dramatic year. The sculpture is permanently inscribed with the names of all 4,058 inaugural season ticket account holders and creates the ultimate Instagram moment for Loons Fans.
From afar the letters appear smooth, the texture on the faces becoming apparent on approach. Within 16-20’ the texture is recognizable as names, and individual names are legible within 12’.
Names are listed alphabetically by last name across the sculpture. Visitors delight in finding their own names and names of friends – and sharing out the experience through social media.
Design & Execution
The team worked collaboratively with the architects and site designer to create a public installation that was cohesive in scale and design to the site and the stadium.
Sight lines were carefully studied to ensure maximum visibility for both highway and city street vehicular traffic, while providing a compelling human scale experience up close and personal for social media sharing. The design team carefully considered every detail from materiality and lighting to plantings, holding fast to the design intent and working collaboratively with their build partners to deliver a beautiful end product for the client.
Each of the 4,058 names was waterjet cut into the aluminum panels. Waterjet was selected during prototyping, after discovering that the heat from laser cutting would warp the aluminum panels.
Slideshow
United Sculpture at Allianz Field
The 65’ long United Sculpture is perfectly scaled against the backdrop of the illuminated stadium, and within the site context – beckoning visitors from afar.
From afar the letters appear smooth, the texture on the faces becoming apparent on approach. Within 16-20’ the texture is recognizable as names, and individual names are legible within 12’.
Names are listed alphabetically by last name across the sculpture. Visitors delight in finding their own names and names of friends – and sharing out the experience through social media.
Each of the 4,058 names was waterjet cut into the aluminum panels. Waterjet was selected during prototyping, after discovering that the heat from laser cutting would warp the aluminum panels.