The U.S. Air Force Academy recently completed an ambitious $95 million modernization project at its campus just north of Colorado Springs, Colorado. Falcon Stadium, the site of the academy’s football and lacrosse games as well as graduation ceremonies and other events, was the centerpiece of the renovation project. Updates to the stadium include new roof and wall systems, and the 76,000-square-foot main roof now sports a PVC roof system that spells out FALCONS in large capital letters.
The site is 6,621 feet above sea level, and challenges on the project included the sheer scope of work, a very tight schedule, and difficult weather conditions. Work began in December 2023, and the stadium project had to be completed before the end of August 2024 for the Air Force Academy’s first home football game.
The general contractor on the project, GE Johnson, invited long-term partner Douglass Colony Group to bid on the roofing, waterproofing, and wall panel portions of the project, and the bid was accepted. The scope of work was right up his company’s alley, according to Aaron Harvey, a construction executive with Douglass Colony Group. “We’ve been around for almost 77 years now,” Harvey says. “Obviously we’re one of the larger commercial roofers in this region, but not only that, we do below-grade waterproofing, hot-applied waterproofing, pavers, and then obviously we have our own sheet metal fabrication shop and handle everything from sheet metal to composite wall panels. And we also have a frame CAD division that makes pre-engineered panelized walls. And we have a solar division as well.”
The Sarnafil G-410 PVC roof system was specified for the primary roof. The scope of work also included applying a Hydrotech waterproofing system at the club level balconies and amenity decks. Douglass Colony also fabricated and installed exterior metal composite wall panels.
The Temporary Roof

Crews from Douglass Colony first installed a torch-applied Sarnafil vapor barrier, which served as a temporary roof. “We started with the torch-applied temp roof,” notes Harvey. “They had to get started on the interior finishes long before we could actually get the permanent main roof installed. The main PVC roof is the reflective gray color. And then we hired a company to precut the Falcon lettering for us, which is in white.”
The temporary roof was installed over metal decking. “We installed half-inch DensDeck Prime, and then we installed the Sarnafil TA 87 torch-applied vapor barrier, which was applied directly to the DensDeck,” says Harvey.
With the main roof section dried in, other trades were able to start on the interior while Douglass Colony continued with the roof and wall installations, as well as waterproofing.
The Main Roof
The main roof was installed over the temporary roof. Two layers of 2.6-inch polyiso were specified to achieve an R-value of R-30. The insulation was topped with half-inch DensDeck Prime and the G-410 60-mil PVC in reflective gray, which was fully adhered.
A large internal gutter was constructed out of PVC-clad metal. “The entire main roof all slopes in one direction, and there’s a big internal gutter along the east elevation,” Harvey says. “The gutter is all lined with the Sarnaclad metal. GE Johnson and the other subs went in and built it, and we lined it with the ice and water shield. And then we had to field measure and custom fabricate the gutter out of PVC-clad metal. It has some curvature to it, and then it’s terminated with the Sarnaclad drip edge.”
The PVC roof installation was fairly straightforward, according to Harvey, with the exception of the custom lettering. “The roof was wide open,” Harvey says. “ There were only five or six penetrations, so it was relatively easy. The challenging part was the lettering. We had GE Johnson’s Virtual Design and Construction (VDC) Team help us and do the layout because the letters are about 45 feet tall. Obviously we had to make the letters look uniform — and spell ‘Falcons’ correctly.”
The letters were delivered pre-cut, but laying them out and installing them was a challenge, even with markings in place for each 90-degree angle bend of each letter.
“We did a set of shop drawings that were based off of the grid line,” Harvey explains. “GE Johnson’s VDC team went up there with their machine and they laid out the lettering based on the grid line.”
The letters were then carefully installed. “They’re basically fully adhered in the middle, and then the entire perimeter is heat welded,” Harvey says. “We used a Leister walking welder.”
Numerous Challenges

Safety protocols included safety perimeter warning lines, fall protection carts, and safety harnesses. “We set up our safety zone 10 feet from the perimeter,” Harvey says. “When we were outside the lines, we used a Raptor fall cart so we could be tied off at all times when on the perimeter.”
High winds and unpredictable winter weather had to be taken into account. “The area has its own unique little environment,” Harvey says, “There was one occurrence when the wind gusts were clocked at 90 miles an hour plus. So, we had to make sure all of our roofing materials were always cleaned up and secured at the end of every day. The good news is nothing blew off the roof.”
Inclement weather could pop up quickly, so everything had to remain watertight. “It would rain or snow there when it wasn’t raining or snowing anywhere else,” notes Harvey. “We just had to be cautious on a daily basis, doing our nightly tie offs and following our typical protocol.”
Logistics had to be carefully coordinated, including material deliveries, as getting into the base could be time consuming. Douglass Colony worked closely with buildingWorks, LLC, the Sika reps on the project, to make sure products arrived at the site as needed. “You’ve got to go through a checkpoint at the base, so everything’s got to be scheduled well ahead, including the crane,” Harvey explains. “So, you just had to be on point and plan ahead. We’d schedule it, and then Sarnafil and buildingWorks did a good job making sure we got the materials when we scheduled them so we didn’t miss anything.”
“We were involved early on with the academy in terms of the renovation and the design work, and obviously Sarnafil has a lot of background with arenas and stadiums,” says Ken Flickinger, managing director of buildingWorks. “So, as Douglass Colony was communicating with GE Johnson, we were providing lots of background on sports arenas and stadiums — other projects that the academy could look at in making their final decision. And then we started working with Douglass probably late last summer in terms of some of the project planning.”
The letters involved some extra steps, notes Flickinger. “It took a little bit of time to get the lettering designed,” he says. “Ultimately they settled on the white on gray, and then we got a drawing from the general contractor and sent that off to Sika. They have an operation they use that does all the lettering. So then that process started in terms of fabricating the letters, getting the white rolls out to the fabrication facility, making sure they built them the right way and then getting that shipped to Douglass Colony.”
Aesthetics were a crucial consideration for the main roof, notes Harvey. “From the existing stands on the west side, you essentially look down over the west side,” he says. “So, the roof is not only a focal point of the building, it also had to be clean and slick. The Sarnafil membrane has a proprietary coating on it that helps wick water and dirt better than most other manufactured membranes.”
Amenity Decks and Walls
After the main roof was completed, crews moved on to waterproofing the amenity decks. The Hydrotech system was applied to the structural concrete deck, and the areas underwent electric leak detection (ELD) tests. “We install the hot applied, then we ELD test it, which is a requirement for the Hydrotech warranty,” Harvey says. “Then it’s got drain mat on it. And then GE Johnson poured the concrete top slab.”
The last steps included fabricating and installing the metal wall panels. “Over the exterior sheathing, we installed the Dow Defend air barrier, our perforated Z-girt, and then all the exterior was covered with 2-inch mineral wool insulation,” says Harvey. “Then we installed our fabricated metal composite panels. The metal panels had a running bond pattern with the panel joint continuously staggered.”
Douglass Colony also applied panels to columns that were designed to evoke the shape of airplane wings. “We had a bunch of vertical columns that are basically a teardrop shape,” says Harvey. “They’re supposed to mimic the look of an airplane wing, essentially. Those were difficult. We’ve never made a column that shape before, so they were challenging. We had to roll them in our shop to give them the curvature.”
Crews were under the gun to get the panels installed by the deadline. “We were at crunch time with those,” Harvey says. “There were approximately 2,600 panels, so we had to make hundreds of them per day. We have our own CAD department and designers, so they design them all, and then we get them fabricated, and then we had to get them crated up and delivered to the jobsite.”
Accurate field measurements were crucial, and crews used a 3D scanner to ensure accuracy. “The whole building’s an oval, so we had a bunch of typical panels, but then all the interest keys to the tops, the bottoms, and the sloped walls, so that’s where we’d scan and design those panels to fit,” says Harvey.
The work was successfully completed in time for Air Force’s first home game of the season on August 31 — a 21-6 win over Merrimack College.
Harvey and Flickinger point to excellent teamwork among all companies involved for helping them head off potential problems and meet the deadline. “The key was constant communication,” Harvey says. “We were always making sure we had everything we needed and we didn’t have any hiccups.”
“I agree — coordination was really the key,” says Flickinger. “This was a significant modernization project — probably the biggest undertaking the academy’s ever done on campus.”
The project has garnered a lot of attention, and it has become a source of pride for the employees at Douglass Colony. “I think it’s tremendous, especially for everyone that was directly involved in it,” says Harvey. “They get to see it on TV. The roof is even on the new video game. Everyone’s proud and has bragging rights.”
TEAM
Architect: HKS, Denver, Colorado, hksinc.com
General Contractor: GE Johnson Construction Company, Colorado Springs, Colorado gejohnson.com
Roofing, Waterproofing and Sheet Metal Contractor: Douglass Colony Group, Commerce City, Colorado, douglasscolony.com
Manufacturer’s Rep: buildingWorks, LLC, Parker, Colorado, buildingworks.us
MATERIALS
Membrane: Sarnafil G-410 60-mil PVC, Sika USA, usa.sika.com/sarnafil
Vapor Barrier: Sarnafil TA 87, Sika USA
Cover Board: DensDeck Prime, Georgia-Pacific, buildgp.com
Waterproofing: Monolithic Membrane 6125, Hydrotech, hydrotechusa.com
Be the first to comment on "Teamwork Is Crucial Above the U.S. Air Force Academy’s Falcon Stadium"