The convention center needed to expand in order to prevent losing events to larger facilities. The owner also needed to complete the project in time for the planned 1998 Super Bowl festivities. The purpose of this project was to prepare a 15% design and select a design-build team to expedite a fast track, modified, design-build delivery process. The concept design included preparing detailed drawings and specifications for the expansion: exhibit halls, formal ballroom, meeting rooms, lobbies, circulation areas, vehicle tunnel, utility access tunnel, loading dock, commercial kitchen and various service spaces. We determined how to serve the whole facility for use as a civil disaster shelter, and recommended purchasing existing substation equipment from the local utility, supporting our decision with a cost effectiveness analysis for concurrence by the City Engineer. Our team worked very closely with the owner, users, maintenance personnel and architects to create a state-of-the-art facility. We proposed the integration of all building systems using an open system architecture. Authorized individuals can then access any of these systems from any network computer with one common user interface.