After providing design services for Wayne State’s baseball field renovations and a smooth construction process, OSPORTS was requested to design a new Tennis Court Facility and continue the university’s athletics-based upgrades on campus. In the early stages of the project, the OSPORTS team performed their due diligence and did an on-site investigation of the courts condition, revealing substantial cracking in the courts, likely cause by downspouts on an adjacent building.

 

In the new facility design, OSPORTS determined it would be best to connect downspouts to an underground pipe, eliminating sheet flow across the site. Initially planning full-depth asphalt replacement, but due to likely downspout issues, OSPORTS opted to reuse the substantial existing aggregate base, thus saving the thousands of dollars.

 

Upon reviewing survey data and consulting USTA and ASBA design guidelines, it was found that the court grading for the new layout was incorrect. These guidelines typically recommend draining from sideline to sideline to prevent player advantages due to terrain. However, when three or more courts are adjacent, the recommendation shifts to draining endline to endline to manage water flow effectively.

 

As OSPORTS worked further through iterations of court layouts, value engineering and constructability it was determined that for this site it made more sense to drain endline to endline instead of sideline to sideline.