DESIGN INTENT
Mount Royal University’s Field 1 was the university’s championship natural grass playing surface: the home of varsity soccer, a field with history. In January 2025, MRU engaged NAK Design Strategies to transform it into a FIFA Quality Pro artificial turf facility without losing a full season of play. Ten months later, the field was complete, certified, and hosting championship soccer.
NAK delivered the full scope, from initial technical advisory through feasibility, detailed design, approvals, tender, and construction administration, within that single 10-month window. The schedule was achieved by running the feasibility study and detailed design programs concurrently rather than sequentially, compressing a process that typically spans two seasons into one.
NAK’s involvement began before a formal contract was in place. Within one week of being assigned the initial task, NAK produced a technical memo that gave MRU’s Board of Governors the information needed to structure and issue a subsequent RFP. NAK won that RFP and proceeded to deliver the full project.
The same early-stage analysis addressed the question of a seasonal dome on the site. A high-capacity, City-owned watermain running beneath the field is the primary constraint prohibiting a dome at this location. Rather than simply closing that door, NAK developed a set of design and site selection criteria for MRU to pass to the campus master planning team, providing a clear framework for finding a viable dome location elsewhere on campus in a future phase.
