Because everything is stair-stepped, designing the plumbing system for a sports stadium is a lot different than designing the plumbing for an office building,” Roy West notes. He should know. West, who is senior plumbing designer in the Tampa office of the architectural firm Hellmuth Obata Kassabaum (HOK), designed the plumbing system for the new 65,000-seat Raymond James Stadium. The plumbing contract for the Florida stadium, which is home to the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers, totaled $3.59 million. An additional $923,000 was spent on the fire protection system.
The stadium’s plumbing includes 800 toilets located in 24 public men’s restrooms, 28 women’s restrooms, 8 unisex/family restrooms and 164 luxury suites (each with its own private bathroom). In addition, there are 48 permanent concession stands, a main kitchen, two 5,700-square-foot locker rooms and 20 drinking fountains.