The last bar of steel, weighing 500 pounds and 40 feet long, was installed yesterday to complete the roof matrix on Arthur Ashe Stadium at Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, home of the U.S. Open. In all, the roof matrix consumed 5,000 tons of steel. The retractable roof portion will not be installed into the matrix until after this year’s Open, but will be ready for the '16 edition. Still, the new roof structure instantly gave the cavernous tennis stadium a different feel, making it -- while not intimate -- less wide open. The roof is one part of a $500M redevelopment, which will not be fully complete until '19 (Daniel Kaplan, Staff Writer). In N.Y., Naila-Jean Meyers writes, "Considering the years it took to come up with a workable design, the construction itself has gone relatively quickly." Before the Open begins in August, "four video boards and sound and lighting systems will be installed in the stadium." A temporary fabric canopy "will cover the south and west sides of the stadium this year" because the "geometric pattern of the superstructure would cause unusual shadows." The canopy -- and later, the permanent fabric covering -- "means that thousands of fans in Arthur Ashe Stadium will be able to sit in the shade." National Tennis Center COO Danny Zausner said that the stadium, the largest in tennis, will "maintain its seating capacity of 23,771, though some seats in the highest rows were removed to accommodate two video boards." He added that seats were "added in lower levels to replace those lost" (N.Y. TIMES, 6/11).
