Tuesday Talk: Irrigation innovation, MLB at C.O.P.?

Tuesday Talk rounds up the latest Georgia World Congress Center Authority (GWCCA) news you might have missed and also points forward to upcoming events on our campus.

The mission: design and develop a highly-efficient and reliable irrigation system for The Home Depot Backyard using a non-drinkable water supply.

Oh yeah, and make sure it’s complete before the Atlanta Falcons 2018 regular-season home opener at state-of-the-art Mercedes-Benz Stadium (MBS).

That was the task at hand as the 13-plus-acre greenspace/tailgating spot was under construction abutting MBS on a portion of the former Georgia Dome footprint, basically fashioning a massive park lawn on top of the imploded stadium’s rubble.

Rising to the challenge was the GWCCA’s Campus Horticulturalist, Steve Ware, and irrigation consultant Bob Scott, of Irrigation Consultant Services, working on behalf of Kimley-Horn, which provided structural, traffic and civil engineering and landscape architecture design for The Home Depot Backyard.

Ware and Scott were recently recognized for their collaboration on this project, receiving an American Society of Irrigation Consultants (ASIC) Excellence In Irrigation Merit Award.

“It’s something we weren’t expecting, but we’re happy to receive,” said Ware.

The irrigation system is fed from a cistern next to the stadium that is designed to use recycled rainwater runoff from MBS’s roof as its primary source for keeping The Home Depot Backyard’s natural turf green, backed up by wells underneath the park.

Meanwhile, Ware is also featured in the latest GWCCA web series My Authority Life, giving a virtual tour of the campus’ various outdoor landscapes.

HEY NOW, YOU’RE AN ALL-STAR

Keeping the momentum rolling on Atlanta’s string of marquee sporting events, Major League Baseball announced last week that SunTrust Park will host the 2021 MLB All-Star Game.

Whereas the Atlanta Braves’ Cobb County stadium isn’t exactly in Atlanta proper, officials announced that the MLB All-Star Game’s tentacles will spread throughout the metro area – including the GWCCA’s downtown campus.

unConventional has confirmed that an MLB All-Star-related concert event will take place at Centennial Olympic Park in July 2021.

The MLB All-Star game will come on the heels an impressive streak for Atlanta and the GWCCA campus, which started with the 2018 College Football National Championship Game, followed by the 2018 MLS Cup, Super Bowl LIII in 2019, and the NCAA Men’s Final Four in 2020.

THIS WEEK ON CAMPUS

Approximately 6,000 scientists are attending the American Society for Mass Spectrometry (ASMS) Conference on Mass Spectrometry & Allied Topics, which kicked off Sunday (June 2) at the Georgia World Congress Center (GWCC). The conference continues through Thursday (June 6). What is mass spectrometry, you ask? According to asms.org, “mass spectrometry (MS) is an analytical technique which identifies compounds based on the atomic sample composition of the molecules and their charge state.” Mass spectrometry is used in various fields, from forensics to chemistry, biology, and medicine.

The City of Atlanta’s 2019 Business Expo is set for 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Wednesday (June 5) at the GWCC’s A3 Exhibit Hall. This year’s event – a how-to on doing business with the city government – is called R.E.V.I.V.E. (A Renewed Effort and Vision to Invest in Vendor Education). According to the event web page, “this expo will serve as a forum to provide our vendor and contracting community with specific ‘how-to’ engagement information relative to fiscal year forecasted contracting opportunities from our various city user agencies. Our mission is to educate minority, female, small business entities, and prime contractors on methods to do business with the City of Atlanta.” For registration, click here.

In the first international friendly (exhibition) match staged at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, rivals Mexico and Venezuela square off on Wednesday (June 5). Kick off is at 8:30 p.m. For more on this game and the GWCCA campus’ history of hosting big-time futbol check out this unConventional post.

The Association of Women’s Health Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses Annual Convention starts Saturday (June 8) with pre-conference programming and the event continues through June 12 primarily at the GWCC’s Building A.