Windows in Yost
So just a little while ago we found out that good old Yost Ice Arena was getting a new scoreboard and being completely renevated. What was slipped in there that it seems nobody actually noticed was Yost was getting new windows and those windows are not going to be boarded up.
They’re redoing the seating areas, adding loge seating, a hospitality suite, a new press box, a completely new concourse with upgraded concession stands that will be able to serve more than hotdogs and nachos and, my favorite part, they’re uncovering the windows!!!
When Yost was originally built they used natural lighting and had huge windows (shown below), but when it was converted to an ice arena in the 70′s the direct sunlight made for bad ice, so they boarded them up. Now that technology has improved, they’re going to install treated windows to allow the light in without totally destroying the ice.
http://nhl-northeast.com/julie-robenhymer-hail-to-the-victors-michigan-…
Wow, I wonder what kind of insulation value those windows will have... that kind of window in that quantity sure can't be cheap.
Those windows are supposed to be the same kind as the ones at Glick if I remember correctly.
That plywood covering the windows was/is the worst part of Yost.
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<br>Now if we can just get the portrait hung!
That is going to look awesome.
Why HAVE the windows at Yost been boarded up? I've never actually thought about it before.
Please excuse my literary laziness as I go find a place to embarrasedly explode.
What a great find. I had no idea that they'd do this.
I wonder, how many people on MGoBlog remember Yost as a Fieldhouse? Because they didn't transform it into an ice arena as soon as Crisler was completed. I can remember, as a little kid, running around on the indoor track and looking at the (soon to be dismantled) basketball court. Imagine what you see at Yost today, but basically looking like the open interior of Glick Fieldhouse, with all that open space and the light streaming in. It is a tremendous job of re-purposing the building that they have done with ice hockey. But simply for appreciation of the interior space of the building, it was fantastic before they crowded the rink and the seating in there.
How old are you?
That is going to look awwesome. I think boarded/bricked in windows to be a huge eyesore; unfortunately, many of our campus buildings have them. Imagine walking down State street on a crisp winter night towards Yost and being able to see the lights shining out on to the snow. Thinking about it gives me goosebumps.
I have been going to games at Yost since I was 10 years old in 1996. I had season tickets all four years as an undergrad, and will now buy season tickets as an Alumnus. I love that place, but it never crossed my mind why the windows were closed up. I guess I thought it was just part of the process to re-purpose the old barn.
I read that article last night, great find, OP.
There is more to the covered windows than just the quality of the ice, though. From the Michigan Daily, October 10, 1973:
"'We can't go full tilt yet because the ice isn't ready,' [Michigan hockey coach Dan] Farrell explained. 'The glare caused by the setting sun (coming through the windows that line Yost's perimiter) made it impossible for our goaltenders to see the puck. Hopefully this will be corrected when the ice whitens, but something really should be done about it. It's really a hazard to our players.'"
So I assume that when Farrell said that "something really should be done about it," that something was boarding over the windows. Presumably, they will be able to block the south windows so the mid-winter sun doesn't reflect off the ice during afternoon practices.
But even as a layman I can tell this will be an awesome addition, inside and out.
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<br>Who thought back in the era of the halo that the Athletic campus would end up looking so...beautiful.
Besides rolling a 50LB plate up and down the football field Hoke could make someone have to wash those windows as well.
I remember when the stadium (early-mid '90s) was surrounded by a simple chain-link fence. We have massively classed up the place.
One of the neatest little things about Yost.
Next time you're in there, go to the side by Fisher Stadium, near sections 7, 8, & 9. Look on the wall near the door and you will see the original inscription marks of the start of what I think was practice for the 220 or the 440 from when it was a fieldhouse. It's a great little touch.
I'm excited to see what Yost can become as it approaches its 100th anniversary.
This site has a bunch of photos of Yost under construction and during its days as a field house with the open windows very prominent:
http://umhistory.dc.umich.edu/mort/athletic/Yost%20Fieldhouse/index.html
In the boxing photo, it appears that the portrait of Coach Yost is up above the windows. I'm not sure which end of the arena that is, somone else might know.