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- [00:01]
Emily Gracie
This weekend, Caesar Superdome in New Orleans will host the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl Lix. In the last 50 years, the Superdome has witnessed both the heights of athletic glory and the depths of human tragedy. On August 29, 2005, as Hurricane Katrina bore down on New Orleans, nearly 30,000 residents sought refuge within the Superdome's walls. What followed were days of darkness, desperation, and structural failure.
- [00:33]
Trey Trahan
The fasteners apparently were not attached or engineered to resist winds at that speed.
- [00:43]
Emily Gracie
Today we're going off the radar to tell the story of an American icon that survived one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history and how its resurrection helped heal a city's wounds.
- [00:54]
Trey Trahan
The Dome is the it's the living room for our community.
- [00:58]
Emily Gracie
We'll take you inside those harrowing days when the Dome's roof peeled away like paper Katrina's winds. And then we'll sit down with the architect who faced the monumental task of not just rebuilding a stadium, but reimagining how our structures must evolve to face increasingly extreme weather. I'm meteorologist Emily Gracey, and you're listening to off the Radar, a production of the National Weather Desk. On the show, we dig deep into topics about weather, climate, the ocean, space, and much more. Our goal is to help you better understand the weather and to love it as much as we do. Weight loss it needs to be fast and sustainable. Noom GLP1 starts at just $149 and ships to your door in seven days. Take it from Lauren, who lost 22 pounds on Noom.
- [01:44]
Trey Trahan
If I come off of the GLP1.
- [01:46]
Emily Gracie
It'S not going to automatically make my weight. Yo yo back $149 GLP1s now that's Noom smart. Get started@noom.com Real Noom user compensated to provide their story. Individual results may vary. Not all customers will medically qualify for prescription medications. Compounded medications are not reviewed by the FDA for saf the FCC Air quality the Superdome in New Orleans can hold over 73,000 fans in its colossal seating, all centered around its storied football field, the stadium is home to the New Orleans Saints. It's frequently the host of the super bowl, along with NCAA basketball games and other massive events. With on field seating for concerts and pro wrestling events, the stadium's capacity jumps to 83,000. But in 2005, just 11 days before the NFL season's kickoff game, the famous stadium in New Orleans took on a different function as an emergency public shelter for desperate people with nowhere else to turn.
- [02:51]
Trey Trahan
These last 24 hours have been nothing less than harrowing for the people of New Orleans. I mean, everything is just flooded. Everything. The whole city. The whole city. This is like a city under siege.
- [03:02]
Emily Gracie
Katrina started as a tropical depression on August 24, 2005. The next day, it was a Category 1 hurricane. A day later, Category 2. One more day, August 27, and it was a Category 3 hurricane. When it made landfall and hit Louisiana, Katrina had winds recorded over 100 miles per hour. The City of New Orleans had used the Superdome in the past. It sheltered about 10,000 people during Hurricane Georges in 1998. And in 2004, just one year before, Katrina sheltered about 1100 residents, mostly vulnerable people with no means of evacuating. But Katrina was different.
- [03:40]
Trey Trahan
The mayor warned that the entire city may be flooded within hours. Hundreds had to be plucked from rooftops by Coast Guard and National Guard helicopters, winched to safety as they abandoned their homes, their belongings.
- [03:54]
Emily Gracie
Houses were flooded. People were trapped on rooftops.
- [03:57]
Trey Trahan
20,000 people are now being sheltered in the Superdome, but not for long. It has to be evacuated. You can't take care of people under these conditions. There's no safe haven in New Orleans right now.
- [04:11]
Emily Gracie
The city was in chaos. And the interior of the Superdome was a microcosm of what was playing out across New Orleans. Reports came in. Overflowing toilets, unsanitary conditions, supply scarcity that led to robbery. There was confusion, there was violence, and there was death.
- [04:30]
Trey Trahan
As the floodwaters rose, so did the chaos. Looters ran through the streets, ransacking stores. One police officer was shot and injured, hearing all sorts of things being stolen. We receive reports of people shooting at one another out there. So it's a lot of chaos right now.
- [04:48]
Emily Gracie
Many of the arena's roof panels were stripped away. Two holes about 15 to 20ft long allowed rain to enter the Superdome. The power went out. The air conditioning system was down. The arena, at nearly half its intended capacity by some estimates, was never supposed to experience conditions like this.
- [05:08]
Trey Trahan
It's the storm that did this. It's not anything any government did or individual. The storm had a damn vote. And the storm is still there. The water is there. You can't boat that water out of the city of New Orleans. That's reality, folks.
- [05:26]
Emily Gracie
The floodwaters of New Orleans eventually receded, leaving behind a city forever changed. The Superdome, like New Orleans itself, stood battered but not broken. Its mangled roof, water damaged interiors told the story of those desperate days in August of 2005. But in the aftermath of a disaster. Amid the scattered debris and painful memories, a new challenge emerged. How do you rebuild a structure that carries such profound trauma?
- [05:57]
Trey Trahan
I remember as the commissioner left, we looked at each other and said, how are we going to do this? We had absolutely no idea.
- [06:05]
Emily Gracie
These are the questions facing today's guest, Trey Trahan, when he received the call to reimagine the Superdome. His task wasn't just about fixing a roof or replacing damaged systems. It was about rebuilding trust and creating a structure that could withstand whatever the future may bring. So, Trey, thanks so much for coming on today to talk about the Superdome. You are an architect, correct?
- [06:35]
Trey Trahan
Correct.
- [06:36]
Emily Gracie
And tell me what your firm is.
- [06:38]
Trey Trahan
Yeah. Trahan architects were located in New Orleans and New York City.
- [06:44]
Emily Gracie
Okay, so the super bowl is happening here in New Orleans this year at the Superdome. But the Superdome has quite the history. Can you take me back to the very beginning of the Superdome? When it was built?
- [06:57]
Trey Trahan
It was built. They started design in the early 1970s. Governor John McKissen initiated the project and the architects chosen were Curtis and Davis. Yeah. And they programmed and designed a venue that at that time was to host events not only for football, but major league baseball and basketball, NBA basketball. And so it was a multi sports venue and also to accommodate other types of events.
- [07:31]
Emily Gracie
Gotcha. All right. I live in Charleston, South Carolina, and I know that stuff that was built in the 70s and 80s didn't exactly factor in things like weather and climate. So what is your knowledge of when the Superdome was initially built, how weather and climate was factored in?
- [07:48]
Trey Trahan
Well, codes were a little different then. And of course we didn't have massive computers to design structural systems. The designers at that time, I'm confident knew of of the impact of hurricane force winds.
- [08:03]
Emily Gracie
So for those we have listeners from not only all over the country, but all over the world. Can you tell us a little bit about not only the Superdome, but New Orleans as a whole, where it sits?
- [08:14]
Trey Trahan
Earliest settlement was the French choir on the Mississippi River, a town that resides close to the Gulf. And of course, we're losing land daily as it relates to the impact of climate change and the result of a river, the massive Mississippi that was levied off. And so I think they estimate that we're losing a football field of land about every hour. And so the Gulf is progressively moving closer to downtown New Orleans. And so the impact is much greater.
- [08:54]
Emily Gracie
And then where in New Orleans is the Superdome?
- [08:56]
Trey Trahan
Yeah. So the Superdome is in the central business district right adjacent to the French Quarter and adjacent to the Warehouse district. So a location that allows for many tourists to arrive, enjoy many incredible restaurants and hotel accommodations, and unlike so many other NFL venues, walk and experience an extremely walkable city to and after the event taking place. So it's beautifully positioned such that it resides within a number of faubourgs having access to the Dome.
- [09:43]
Emily Gracie
Were you in New Orleans in August of 2005?
- [09:48]
Trey Trahan
I was not at that time. I was in Baton Rouge and of course didn't experience the impact of, of the hurricane like, like those in New Orleans, but we did experience the hurricane. LSU was used the campus as a place of triaging people. And so I remember hearing throughout the night and days the massive helicopters moving in and out.
- [10:19]
Emily Gracie
I know for New Orleans it's been 20 years, but probably feels pretty fresh. And I think we're all very familiar. List anybody who was alive during this, very familiar with what happened at the Superdome. And the place that was supposed to be a shelter for so many became a place of terror. Can you tell me what happened structurally with the Superdome that caused that?
- [10:44]
Trey Trahan
Yeah, well, in a structured, an assembly structure, meaning assembly occupancy like the Superdome, what is designed into the structure is a smoke evacuation system. Meaning. Meaning if a fire occurred, these massive eight apex vents that are at the apex of the roof would open up and allow smoke to be released. And these, these vents, or what we refer to flashed and counter flashed into the roofing system of the dome. And the dome at that time had a membrane as the final coating over an insulation deck, which is over a structural metal deck, which is over the structural framing system. And we believe that there was a compromised flashing counter flashing detail, meaning it wasn't installed to specifications at the level it should have. And, and so those hurricane force winds began to pull back that roofing membrane at the crown of the roof and began to peel that membrane off the roof, almost like you peel an outer layer of an onion and exposing the insulation system. And then it began to experience those hurricane force winds. And so that those insulation layers began to detach from the structural deck. And then of course, once the deck was exposed, the fasteners apparently were not attached or engineered to resist winds at that speed. And so the result was the metal deck was, was removed in places, creating a gaping hole in the roof, which of course then resulted in elevated winds internally and of course rain into the interior of the dome.
- [13:06]
Emily Gracie
So was there an investigation done afterwards? Is that how you know that there was a team?
- [13:10]
Trey Trahan
We were placed on the roof Approximately somewhere between 45 and 60 days after the hurricane, you can take elevators or stairs up to a certain level and then you can walk within a cab walk system right under the structural roof system. And at a certain place you can move up a ship's ladder onto a hatch and onto the roof. And approximately 15 architects and engineers and client reps were placed on the roof to inspect the roof at that time after the hurricane. I'll never forget one of the structural engineers commented that there were still some soft spots in the roof and that we should not congregate, remain dispersed on the roof. And occasionally we would find ourselves congregating as we began to discuss, discuss what we were seeing. And the structure engineer would come and he would remind us, he'd say, I'm going to remind you guys, you're going to end up on the field level if you don't disperse.
- [14:23]
Emily Gracie
Oh my gosh.
- [14:24]
Trey Trahan
But I mean, I mean there is, there's not full confirmation of that, but it, I think the team was pretty confident that's what took place.
- [14:33]
Emily Gracie
Okay, so then enter your involvement here. How did that play out and what were you tasked to do?
- [14:39]
Trey Trahan
So we were selected by the Louisiana State Facility Planning and Control to serve as the lead architects to restore the Superdome. Our client was the state of Louisiana, fema, also the Louisiana Sports and Exposition District, which is a board appointed by the governor to oversee the Superdome as well as the Saints and asm, the group that manages the dome on a day to day basis. And, and the task was developing two sets of drawings, a set of drawings that would be priced to return it to its original condition, but then an enhanced set of documents, which was the last thing we wanted to do was return suites and seats and clubs and some systems to organize levels that were 30, 40 years old. And, and so that enhancement set allowed us to price enhancing those, those aspects of a building to contemporary modern codes and experiences, materials, finishes. The difference between the baseline cost of returning it to its previous condition and enhanced condition was where the negotiations took place as far as funding between FEMA and the state and NFL and other entities that were funding the project. I mean, looking back, it's quite wild because little things like an escalator step had experienced levels of deterioration from the hurricane. And so we had to assign to each escalator step a condition, a, B condition, a C condition. Then for example, on the massive steel structural system, there's fireproofing. Well, the winds and water that entered the dome washed off some of the fireproofing and of course the Structure's not safe without fireproofing. So how do you accurately document returning fireproofing to the level that is required by present day code? So there's just all these bizarre, nuanced conditions. And of course, when we were hired, we were hired and given about 13 months to open in day. We were a month into the project and we were advised that the governor, Kathleen Blanco, was strongly encouraging us, which remain, telling us to expedite the project to. I think it was either 10 or 11. And then at the time, Paul Tagliabu, the NFL commissioner, traveled to New Orleans and agreed to financially support the project. But he even put the gauntlet down to have it completed within a few months, quicker than that. And I remember when he asked me and a few others if we could accomplish it, I looked at Doug Thornton and he said, trey, I'm answer for you. The answer is yes. And I remember as the commissioner left, we looked at each other and said, how are we going to do this? We had absolutely no idea. We came up with the term game day. Ready. What is the scope that would be required for that opening game? The Saints vs Atlanta?
- [18:23]
Emily Gracie
Why the rush to get it done quicker?
- [18:25]
Trey Trahan
Boy, there was no question that night in the dome when you attended the game, the impact on the city was just magical. I think the governor knew that and she acknowledged the importance of opening schools, opening hospitals and all these other equally important assets. But that the dome is the. It's the living room for our community. The beauty of the dome's age is the memory of experiencing events, things that have taken place, from a president to the pope to Mardi Gras events, to magical moments with the Saints and college football. And, you know, you can't escape those things that are part of memory. Right. And she knew that the community needed hope and that if we could pull this off, the hope it would instill in the community would be significant and serve. Serve us all in knowing that we would not only survive, but in some ways become elevated as a community, that you could believe in humanity. We have the ability to withstand something as tragic as that and become better and stronger as a community.
- [19:49]
Emily Gracie
Did you see parallels as you were going through the process of the community building around you as well? And not just the Superdome, but homes being rebuilt alongside it?
- [19:59]
Trey Trahan
Yeah, you know that that's what was really touching. We would attend these meetings and there were dozens of people in the meeting. These were huge meetings. When we would conclude these meetings at 6, 7, 8 o'clock at night, a large percentage of those in the meetings would go home and deal with these same issues with their personal homes. They were removing wet sheetrock and wooden floors and searching for ways to return their homes to occupiable structures. And yeah, and you were very much aware, it seemed like there was constant footage on the news, aerial footage revealing the number of blue tarps, and it just appeared to be on every roof of every house. And so you were aware, very much aware of the impact throughout the community, both not only in assets that are support the community, but office structures, medical facilities, schools, daycare facilities, but people's private homes.
- [21:11]
Emily Gracie
All right, so you're rebuilding something massive. This is such a huge task and you're making it more hurricane resistant. What does that involve? And then also other weather factors. We just talked about the recent snow in New Orleans. Is that something you were prepared for? What about flooding? We're talking about something below sea level. So all of these factors, it's such a risky place. How do you prepare for all of those when building this?
- [21:38]
Trey Trahan
As it relates to flood, it's about moving equipment that was at a certain level, a lower level, street level, and elevating it such that a flood, of course, would not impact mechanical electrical, plumbing systems, pumps, transformers, electrical panels, and so that those are easy decisions. As it relates to the roof, we're talking about almost a 9.8-acre roof, a building that's 2 million square feet. And so as it relates to the roof, we actually looked at somewhere between 15 and 20 different roofing systems and brought on a number of roofing consultants and of course, hours and days and weeks of discussion of, of what was the pull out resistance of a certain screw type, of a certain adhesive type, you know, those types of things. And because the client group, FEMA and the state made us very much aware that it was a race against time. As it relates to the next hurricane season is not that far away. And we would be held accountable if the new roof structure was not fully in place or it was in some compromised condition. So we settled on a spray foam roof. And because of its resistance to hurricane force winds, its insulation values and its ability to withstand or to some degree remain white, because that was very important as far as reflectance factors and heat absorption or reflection. As it relates to the exterior skin, we later began to deal with the exterior aluminum. It was, it's the anodized aluminum exterior skin that makes that kind of graceful waist line. That anodization process was really old at the time. And so it over the years began to fade and was just not as beautiful as what was originally spec'd. And so more modernized processes for anodizing aluminum elevated the thickness and the wearability of that aluminum. And so the decision was made to remove the entire exterior anodized aluminum skin and rebuild it with a new contemporary system that remains at its level of depth and color and reflectance and beauty, as any new system would. It also is a system. The old system, if a panel was Damaged, let's say 2/3 of the way up the building, you had to remove every panel below it to replace that damaged panel. The system we replaced the exterior skin with is called a rain screen system. And each panel is independent of the other to the degree that if a panel is damaged from flying debris or something like that, you can replace that specific panel without removing other panels. So a much more efficient system.
- [25:00]
Emily Gracie
Tell me about, are there any kind of green initiatives within the Superdome itself that have really brought it to 2025?
- [25:08]
Trey Trahan
Yeah, well, just replacing mechanical and electrical systems themselves elevates them to levels of efficiency. We're hopeful that down the road we will implement more green systems in time, but we're hopeful that we'll find ourselves in a position where we'll remove the two parking garages adjacent to the dome in time and possibly create a green park around the Dome with assets other hotels, restaurants, and community type programming where the dome grounds are used more or less 24 7, 365 as a park. And we create exactly what you're touching on a park, Something that is green as it relates to rain and water runoff. It's absorptive, and it's about water filtration, it's about carbon sequestration and these things.
- [26:09]
Emily Gracie
If there was another major hurricane or major weather disaster in New Orleans, is the Superdome a safe place for people to seek refuge?
- [26:20]
Trey Trahan
It is an extremely safe structure. It has. The structure was placed on on in models and analysis were performed confirmed that it meets modern day structural codes and requirements not only for its base structural system, but its roofing system and its exterior skin, smokey vac and vertical circulation systems, which are stairs, elevators and escalators. If, if I was in a position where I had to retreat to the dome, I would personally feel extremely safe being there.
- [27:03]
Emily Gracie
Did you have any idea when you were doing this design that there was going to be a foot of snow on the roof at some point?
- [27:11]
Trey Trahan
No, and I did. I did. I mean, as it began to snow. And of course, I didn't think there was any way we would experience a foot of snow. I thought, you know, we Might get a quarter of an inch to an inch. I would occasionally look outside of my home and see it building. I thought, wow. Snow load in New Orleans is a. Is a different concept as it relates to our buildings. Thank goodness to the brilliant minds that have written the codes over the years and continue to elevate the codes in response to weather and natural disasters that as we build new and as we upgrade facilities, as much as we still experience the impact of these storms, we are building so much water. And I think, in general, are tremendously responsible with learning from the impact of storm and weather as it's evolving. These are times that. That we're questioning a lot. Right. I mean, because things appear to be changing and shifting at a pace that I think we're all questioning. How do we respond to a world that shifted? Is shifting daily.
- [28:30]
Emily Gracie
All right. Super bowl coming up. I know this. The Superdome redesign kind of happened in phases. Is there anything you can tell me that people who are watching on TV like little Easter eggs, whereas it was. We're watch. You can point out that we should look for. That are really cool.
- [28:44]
Trey Trahan
Yeah. What I find most exciting is so on each of the sidelines and on each of the end zones were two massive ramps. And these ramps were the vertical circulation strategy to both enter and exit the Dome. And as part of the Katrina scope of work, we identified that if we removed those massive two massive ramps on either sideline, that the Dome would enjoy the benefit of an additional 100,000 square feet. And this 100,000 additional square feet footage would contribute to servicing at the lower levels and other levels, general seats at some levels, club seats, and at other levels, suites. But the question became, what is our circulation strategy? As, you know, we refer to neighborhoods as faubourgs. And so early on, we started talking about discussing how do we take these Faubourgs, these neighborhoods, around the Dome, and bring them into the Dome and turn the Faubourg, the neighborhood, vertical. And so we found this space in three of the four corners where we could literally cut each of the four plates out and create these massive atriums that are the full height of the Dome. In fact, they. They terminate at what's called the gutter tub, which is that a massive gutter that's in between the top outer aluminum wall and the crest, the lower tip of the Dome itself. And so we carved out these beautiful atriums in three of the four corners. We line them with that same anodized aluminum, but in a tubing condition. And we're flying through these spaces These escalators that take you, like, from the 200 level to the 500 level. And so. But the tubes allow people that are moving around these atriums to see into it. And so they're these beautiful neighborhoods of activity where you see people moving up and down through the escalators, you see people moving around them, and it just gives you a better sense of. Of where you are. It's a beautiful space, the way light moves in that space. And, of course, it's magical to see a child or even an adult looking up as they move up an escalator into this space or are descending down through the space. And, yeah, I just think it's a very effective way of connecting what is typically thought of as a venue with hierarchy, you know, club suite, general seats, unifying people, and in the most beautiful way, elevating the person who's in the cheapest seat to a place of saying, we acknowledge your participation, your involvement, and elevate the arrival sequence for everyone to a level where dignity is brought to each person. And this remarkable client constantly reminded us that each and every person that attends any event in this venue is of equal importance to the diversity and beauty of the celebration of that event. And so we should bring that elevated experience to each person. And I just think that's pretty incredible.
- [32:33]
Emily Gracie
Is it so important to know the community in which you're designing for?
- [32:38]
Trey Trahan
Oh, absolutely. It's everything. We in the Firm use the word rootedness all the time. There are so many structures that are designed utilizing the latest in computer technology, but these buildings, and the designers have forgotten about the early watershed of a place, the unique soils of a place that give birth to certain tree species or woods or certain certain. The way the earliest settlers planted what was the agrarian aspect to the community. And, of course, that relates to the culture and the cuisine of place. And so for us, we do a deep dive into the history of a community and say, who settled here first? What did they grow? How was the city originally parceled? And that was plantations, of course. And how do all these things contribute to informing a physical response that feels, on an intellectual level and an intuitive level, very much a part of community? Because a building like us all does age in patina, and you want it to age in patina in the most beautiful way, so that every day it's far more beautiful, as opposed to four less beautiful than its day of opening. Foreign.
- [34:08]
Emily Gracie
Off the Radar is a production of the National Weather Desk. Make sure you're following the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. New episodes publish every Tuesday. We'd love you to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Let me know what you think of the show and give me ideas for future episodes. Thank you to Trey Trahan and the team from Trahan Architects for participating in in today's show. This episode was produced and edited by myself and written by Brian Petras. Thank you to the National Weather Desk and Sinclair Broadcast Group for their ongoing support of the podcast. I'm meteorologist Emily Gracie. Make it a great day.