No Pyramid Scheme : Unique New Athletic Facility Has Long Beach State Excited About Possibilities for Growth

Rising dramatically out of the north end of the Long Beach State campus, the distinctive future home of the school’s basketball and volleyball teams is still months from completion but has already infused the athletic department with unbridled optimism.

Officials can barely contain their enthusiasm for the potential of the Pyramid, a $22-million structure they say will be unique among campus athletic facilities in the United States.

They believe the Pyramid, scheduled to open with a basketball doubleheader on Nov. 30, will help them attract better athletes, schedule more noteworthy opponents and create a wider base of community support.

“I see the Pyramid as a catalyst for gaining national attention and visibility,” Athletic Director Dave O’Brien said.

A promotional video produced by the school to attract sponsors calls the Pyramid “a symbol . . . destined to become one of the most significant buildings in all of Southern California.”

Certainly, it is different.

“If we were just building a 7,000-seat gym, we’d have what everybody else has and it would not be the same,” said Don Dyer, executive director of the Pyramid and a longtime Long Beach State booster. “But now we have a community landmark and a truly unique building.”

It was designed by Long Beach architect Donald Gibbs, who said the school was looking for “a symbol to start a new age and a new beginning,” while also hoping to keep costs down.

A pyramid, he said, “seemed to create a point of reference,” and was less expensive to build than a more conventional design.

Construction began in January, 1993, with costs estimated at $15.7 million for a facility that will include a 7,200-seat arena, fitness center, educational conference center and athletic offices.

When the four lower-level seating sections are out of the way--they are hinged and can be hydraulically lifted above the playing surface--the beechwood floor will accommodate three full-court and six half-court basketball areas and five volleyball courts.

Believed to be the largest space-frame pyramid in the world, the structure peaks at 178 feet, or about 18 stories. Its exterior of cobalt blue corrugated steel can be seen several miles away.

The interior is open and airy, with the tip of the pyramid about 190 feet above the floor, which is 15 feet below ground level.

The frame, exposed on the interior, consists of more than 14,000 interconnecting tubes, laid out in sub-assemblies of small pyramids measuring six feet in height and 12 feet along the base.

“It’s an elegant and resourceful engineering solution that is exceptionally strong and exceptionally stable,” Gibbs said. “It’s highly earthquake resistant because of its stiffness and its lateral strength.”

The university received $11 million in state money to build a campus physical education building and has raised more than $5 million from other sources, including a 12-year, $1.2-million contract with Coca-Cola.

The school estimated that it saved about $2 million by building a lightweight space frame instead of a conventional box design of massive girders and foundations, but cost overruns have left officials about $6 million short.

“It started out as a physical education addition of about 77,000 square feet and it went through its preliminary stages that way,” Gibbs said. “But then it grew to a facility of 160,000 square feet.

“It’s a very efficient system for (the budget) they have there.”

The athletic department hopes to raise about half the amount needed to complete the project from a donor or donors willing to make a contribution for having the Pyramid named after their foundation or corporation.

Still, O’Brien said, it might be five years before the facility is completely finished. Athletic department personnel, temporarily housed in trailers because of renovations in the physical education building, probably won’t be able to move into the Pyramid during its first year of operation. Luxury boxes probably won’t be built for several years, if at all.

And when the 49er basketball teams open the Pyramid on Nov. 30, with the women facing perennial power Louisiana Tech and the men playing Detroit Mercy on ESPN, seating will be available for only about 5,000.

O’Brien said that he also is inquiring about backup sites for his basketball teams’ openers in case the Pyramid isn’t ready.

But none of that has curbed the enthusiasm in the athletic department, or kept officials and coaches from promoting the Pyramid. A replica of the facility has been incorporated in the athletic department’s logo on everything from clothing and media guides to business cards and stationery.

Coach Brian Gimmillaro, whose women’s volleyball team is the defending NCAA champion, said the Pyramid will be the nation’s premier volleyball facility because of its extraordinarily high ceiling, no hanging scoreboard and lights that run along the inside of the frame.

“You’ll never hit anything and you’ll never lose sight of the ball,” he said. “There’s never been anything like it for volleyball. It’s a paradise. You’d have to be outdoors to have it that nice.”

The Pyramid will certainly be an improvement over the 1,900-seat campus gym that has been the 49ers’ home for most of the last 40 years.

Seth Greenberg, men’s basketball coach, said that recruits were turned off by “the Gold Mine,” which is no larger than many high school gyms.

“We lost kids every year,” said Greenberg, who has coached the 49ers for four seasons. “(They’d say,) ‘Coach, I really like you, I like the program, I like what you guys are doings, but . . . .’ And the but was always the same.”

Greenberg said that two of his top players, sophomore James Cotton and freshman Akeli Jackson, would be enrolled elsewhere were it not for the Pyramid.

“This gives us a chance to compete on an even playing field,” Greenberg said. “And I think the Pyramid itself is very special because everyone else around here has built a box. They built a box in Santa Barbara, they built a box in Irvine. The shape of the Pyramid lends to the dramatic. It’s so impressive, just its physical presence, that I think it’s going to be a tremendous asset.

“It’s not the total answer, but it gives us the opportunity to get to another level.”

Despite its antiquated facilities, Long Beach has developed successful programs. The men’s basketball team, which has also played home games at the Long Beach Arena, has won eight conference championships and made six NCAA tournament appearances, the most recent in 1993. The women’s team has won more games and made more NCAA tournament appearances than any other Division I school.

In volleyball, the women won national championships in 1989 and 1993, and the men won in 1991.

With the addition of the Pyramid, the thinking in Long Beach seems to be, the sky’s the limit. Season-ticket sales for men’s basketball have already matched last year’s, and the start of the season is still three months away.

“We’ve always had the worst facilities in the state,” Dyer said. “And what this building does, in one fell swoop, we go from last on the list to first, or close to first.

“Because of the uniqueness of the structure and because of the newness of it and the excitement it has generated in the community, it’s the best thing that has ever happened to Long Beach State athletics.”