PITTSBURGH, PA — As the start of the 2001 football season approached, Pittsburgh fans were looking forward to welcoming the Steelers and University of Pitts-burgh Panthers to the new $285 million, 65,000-seat Heinz Field. As they prepared for afternoons of hard-nosed football, they could look forward to drinking, eating, and socializing in restaurants and luxury suites.
But these creature comforts wouldn’t be possible without the stadium’s more than 219,000 sq ft of insulated air-handling ductwork, enough to cover nearly five football fields, and 70,000 lineal ft — or more than 13 miles — of insulated hot, cold, and drain water piping.