The design for the 175,000-sf (16,250-sm) NASCAR Hall of Fame and Museum mirrors the sinuous shape of a racetrack, creating a dynamic architectural form and space for visitors. LERA devised a complex structural system employing curved and sloped forms as motifs to house the project’s Great Hall and related exhibits. Long-span roof trusses spanning 175 ft enable the extra-large Ballroom to be column-free, while 2- and 3-story trusses cantilever 30 ft over the broadcast studio.

A distinctive architectural feature of the museum is its stainless steel façade, which twists like a mobius strip to create a unique canopy spanning 110 ft (33.5 m) over the main entrance.

The complex totals five acres in all: in addition to the museum, which acts as the centerpiece of the complex, there is a 19-story office tower, a 102,000-sf (9,500-sm) expansion to the Charlotte Convention Center, a 100-ft-long bi-level pedestrian bridge connecting the ballroom to the existing Convention Center, a 12,000-sf black box production center and a post-tensioned concrete parking garage located beneath the ballroom that can accommodate up to 1,000 cars.

Three separate studios combine to form NASCAR Productions, the sporting organization’s media production center. The 3,800-sf “Studio 43” features 9-ft by 9-ft access doors and a seamless 40-ft cyclorama wall; the 1,400-sf “Studio 3” provides amenities for smaller commercial productions; and the 1,100-sf “News Center” studio, located near the museum entrance, includes a control room, edit bay, office space, dressing rooms and a green room.