Here's the link to the report, the stadium is listed 3 times on the report: https://www.portlandoregon.gov/bds/article/632232 Nothing more than the article states, but I do love digging through public documents. =P Of note: there are other entries which talk about "stories", so my guess is the "four new levels" probably isn't to imply the renovations would add 4 stories of height. However, that's just a guess, so and it could in fact be that.
Hopefully we can see a rendering of what such an expansion might look like soon. I'd imagine that anything that might also engage the sidewalk would have to involve either a raised upper deck with singular support columns and a viewing gap between the two decks (resulting in a much taller stand on that side than the rest of the stadium) or a vertical gap between two distinct second deck sections of the expanded side. Both would be complex engineering solutions and aesthetics would be challenging to blend in a concise manner. Perhaps they're still brainstorming and have no real rendering on what such an idea might look like...
More info on the potential expansion: https://www.portlandoregon.gov/bds/article/633576 The design is rather interesting. It looks like there will be 4 concourses added over the current street-level one. There's only one elevation drawing given, and the document on the city website isn't a particularly good scan, but I am quite intrigued by what the design potentially is.
They've stated multiple times that it is about a 4,000 seat increase. Most likely it is a bunch of sections without too many rows stacked vertically, because they don't have THAT much horizontal space between the road and the edge of the field, particularly when there will be a lot of looking down to the field. But as I said, I am very interested in seeing either a rendering or an elevation drawing from field side, to get an idea of how the inside would be structured.
Some quick maths: The entire length of the side of the stadium is ~300'. If we assume 2ft wide seats, that you want all seats to be within ~10 seats of an aisle, and aisles should be at least 4ft wide. Each seats+aisle+seats combo is (2*10)+4+(2*10), or 44ft each. That means you could fit in 6 of those wide along the sideline, which would give (10+10)*6, or 120, seats per row. Assuming 4000 added seats, that means we'd have 33.3 new rows needed. If you reduce that to the nearest multiple of 4 (32), you get 3840 added seats. Combining that with the current 21,144 seats, that puts the stadium at 24,984, which is the ~25k number we've been told. Based on these wild speculatory calculations, I'd guess that there will be 4 new terraces of seats added on east side, each with 8 rows of 120 seats, and 6 aisles.
http://www.stumptownfooty.com/2017/4/19/15364144/providence-park-expansion-plans-made-public Expansion would be for 4,000 additional seats, be 100 ft tall, and extend over the SW18th right of way by 10'. Essentially, it would extend over the sidewalk there. Assuming the 100ft number means above street level, that would make it significantly taller than the rest of the stadium, but not as tall as some of the apartment/condo towers in the neighborhood.
I just clicked on the stadium from Google Maps and got this photo. It looks like there's plenty of room for expansion
Official announcement/renderings of current plans for a privately funded $50m expansion: http://www.timbers.com/post/2017/04...-park-add-approximately-4000-new-seats-modern
New design: Five tiers for Portland http://stadiumdb.com/news/2017/04/new_design_five_tiers_for_portland
So are they just stacking up several new tiers and a new roof on top of the existing first tier they added a few years ago?
Basically, yeah, except the new tiers extend further back to include the air rights over the sidewalk on 18th ave. So it is expanding the footprint of the stadium by 10-12 ft. to the East. The new tiers are in back of, not over, the existing levels, probably for top tier sightlines. I'm betting those seats will be pretty steep, judging by how they are in la Bombonera. It looks like the current swells lose the canopy and will get rained on unless there is zero wind, unless the canopy extends inward more than that rendering shows. Not shown are the canopies over the field level seats, also not shown in the rendering. Those are currently the most expensive seats. They could be using the retaining wall that backs the stadium to the East as part of the foundation/shear structure for the new work. That would give them a head start on the foundation. And there is a vertical gap of about a storey between the existing and new tiers. If you notice, there are still views to the street above the Keybank Club marquis ( street) level and at the right. This is a "greenspace" requirement, since the stadium is technically a city park. Supposedly, people walking by should see the green field (a bit of a stretch calling plastic greenspace.) Back in the baseball days, you could watch a whole game from outside the stadium. Now you only get snippets of the pitch. And the stuff submitted to the city claims the new tiers will have their own restrooms, restaurants, and concessions. I haven't seen how they plan to do that. Possibly the tan boxes above the keybank club and the towers at each end. There are currently outdoor foodcart-like concessions under the existing canopy in that area.
I'll give you guys credit. Portland has the most unique "cobbled together" stadium in MLS if nothing else. And it's about to get more so. And in a way it's very cool and organic like you see in other countries.
It will probably get a lot louder. The tall structure and curved canopy are going to focus the noise onto the field. I'm guessing that was to keep the noise out of the surrounding, somewhat toney, neighborhood.
Great summary of the expansions on the East side. http://www.stumptownfooty.com/2017/...e-stadiums-footprint-and-east-side-expansions
i just noticed something the beams between it looks like they might be using the beams from the current roof as the main supports for the planned one.
If I was good at searching for old Merritt Paulson tweets, I recall him saying that was possible. But you know him and his tweets are fleeting acquaintances.
https://www.socceramerica.com/article/75017/report-timbers-ready-to-begin-stadium-expansion.html Report: Timbers ready to begin stadium expansion September 22nd, 2017
I see some substantial changes from the first artists renderings in April to how it has now evolved. Gone is the fourth level corporate "Party deck, though it looks like the addition of one might still be possible in the future. If they decide to add stands at the South end by the MAC club where those facilities are now. It's hard to tell, but it might be that instead the roof is lower. The glass façade onto 18th ave has been extended over the sidewalk and the original tracery coming down from the roof is gone. It looks like the roof itself will be over the street level. This would allow more club and concession area behind the stands. These are the latest drawings: http://www.oregonlive.com/timbers/index.ssf/2017/09/portland_timbers_to_begin_cons.html Compare to the April drawings: http://www.oregonlive.com/timbers/index.ssf/2017/04/portland_timbers_moving_forwar.html
All said, not as much has changed from the initial design as one might have been inclined to assume. The architectural theme and overall scale remains relatively the same, which is much more than I'd initially hoped for. I'd imagined a much more mundane design being what would actually be put in place but they have exceeded my expectations there.