The Dallas Cowboys football franchise operated from the 65,700-seat Texas Stadium in Irving from 1971 until 2008 when the City of Arlington offered substantial incentives to bring the team here to a new 80,000-seat stadium. The older stadium was imploded in 2010. Including standing room, the new structure can accommodate over 105,000 people. Several high-definition screens are centered over the field, in addition to more than 3,000 LCD screens in suites and elsewhere in the structure.
HKS’s design includes a retractable roof designed by Walter P. Moore that slides on two, parallel, trussed-steel tracks. The arches span 1,290 feet, and at the apex the tracks are almost 300 feet above the stadium floor. Each defines an end zone plaza as they come to the ground. Eight-hundred-foot long canted glass facades run the length of the sides and sheath the seating terraces. Manhattan Construction was the general contractor for the three-year project. Eighteen artists were commissioned by Charlotte Jones, wife of Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, to fill the stadium public spaces. Work includes pieces by artists Olafur Eliason, Daniel Buren, Mel Bochner, Lawrence Wiener, and Anish Kapoor.