This new 8,500-seat football stadium will welcome WTAMU students, athletics boosters, and visitors to a safe and comfortable environment. The West Texas A&M Buffaloes now have a home-field advantage, being able to play on their own campus for the first time since 1959.
The main concourse encircles the lower seating bowl, providing access to both lower and upper-level seating and offering unobstructed views of the playing field. Restrooms and concessions are located along the concourse, with additional points of sale distributed throughout with portable carts or kiosks.
The Premium level features six private suites with outside seating for 12 people and one double suite with outside seating for 24. At midfield, a section of exterior seating with chair-back stadium seats has its own climate-controlled interior club lounge. The club lounge has a banquet capacity of 250 people and can be accessible on non-sport dates for year-round events.
The playing surface features the latest cushioning technology to help protect players against concussions and other impact injuries.
The overall design integrates with the architectural fabric of the surrounding campus. This premier facility has been used for other significant campus events such as convocation, commencement, concerts, etc. In 2020, D2Football.com named Buffalo Stadium the top Division II football stadium in the nation.
Pieper High School sits atop a hill on the northern half of a site it shares with Pieper Ranch Middle School. By nestling the building into the grade, the four-story campus blends into the landscape and preserves the natural topography with a stair-stepped design. The stadium complex between the two schools allows for its shared use.
The building design is divided so that the high-traffic/noisy areas are opposite the quieter academic zones. The deconstructed library located at the heart of the school is a fluid space that melds into the cafeteria and then out to the terrace overlooking the stadium. The academic core can be easily transformed to facilitate future changes in educational delivery. Teacher think tanks and collaborative spaces are integrated into each classroom wing to promote cross-curricular collaboration. Fine arts spaces are grouped and have exterior access to support outdoor exercises. CTE spaces along the central core are highly visible to expose students to unfamiliar educational opportunities.
Because of the topography, the two adjacent gyms have upper-level access to the bleachers. The main gym has a total seating capacity of 1568, with 16 handicap-accessible seats. The auxiliary gym will seat 604 with eight handicap-accessible seats. The stadium has synthetic turf and a rubberized all-weather track. The elevated press box includes coaching boxes, media areas, and VIP suites.
Frances Brooks
Anne King
