World Equestrian Center Grand Outdoor Arena

Ocala’s World Equestrian Center Showcases Big Span Structures’ Tensile Membrane Canopy System, Largest Equestrian Complex in the United States Specifies PTFE-Coated Fiberglass.

The largest equestrian complex in the United States, Ocala’s World Equestrian Center features four climate-controlled indoor arenas and 22 outdoor horse show arenas, including the Grand Arena, where Big Span’s PTFE fiberglass material was specified. The centerpiece of the facility, the Grand Arena is a 145,000-square-foot venue that serves as a hub for equestrian events on an international scale.

Big Span’s two identical PTFE tensioned membrane open-air structures on both ends of the Grand Arena cover approximately 30,000 square feet, providing shade, light translucency, and weather protection for spectators in the hot Florida sun. Working alongside Roberts Design, Inc. and Musco Sports Lighting, LLC, Big Span integrated a series of eight 100-foot-long stadium light poles into its canopy design while resolving the reaction loads at the interface of Big Span’s steel framing systems and the base plates of the light poles. With cantilevered canopies on both sides of support columns, foundations were designed and engineered in accordance with the loads stemming from both the light poles and the overall tensile membrane structure’s steel framing system.