If you grew up listening to Bert Jones pass his way down the field at Memorial Stadium -- while you stood in a seemingly interminable line for a soda in a dank concourse -- prepare for a culture shock at the new Ravens digs.

The $220 million facility will be bigger, the concourses wider and the fan amenities greater. There are fold-out changing tables, cup holders on the seats and, yes, plentiful washrooms.

And the setting, too, couldn't be much different. Gone will be the views of Ednor Gardens' tidy rowhouses and the traffic tie-ups along 33rd Street. In their place will be stunning vistas of the Inner Harbor, Oriole Park and the less-stunning expressway-crossed Middle Branch of the Patapsco River and South Baltimore industry.

And traffic tie-ups along Russell Street.

The architecture features several firsts, some of which have already made their way into other projects across the country. And there are a few quirky extras that will give the place distinction.

There are a few things that are bound to draw grumbles. The upper deck is among the highest in sports -- 50 percent higher than Memorial Stadium. Front-row patrons will find their views bisected by a railing. Many have requested new seats.

And although most of the 69,000 seats are 21 inches wide -- 4 inches wider than those at Memorial Stadium -- some, wedged randomly into rows to make them fit, are only 19 inches wide. The width you get depends on the luck of the draw.

Aesthetically, the building is bound to draw criticism from those who may find it an unworthy successor to Oriole Park. Others may wish for a modern or classic design instead of a combination of the two. Its setting, too, will draw unwelcome comparisons: If Oriole Park is tucked into the city, Ravens stadium, a few hundred feet south, is parked at the curb.

But for fans, the place has room to grow. All told, the building has 1.6 million square feet of interior space, including partly enclosed concourses. This compares with 1 million square feet at Oriole Park.

"At the outset of this whole thing, we did tons of focus groups and research," said David Modell, Ravens executive vice president of communications.

"The No. 1 item, beyond everything else, was bathrooms. The number of bathrooms, the cleanliness of bathrooms," Modell said.

The new stadium will have 66 washrooms available for public use, including eight unisex "family style" bathrooms with diaper changing stations parents can use with children of the opposite gender. All told, there will be 1,076 toilets and urinals.

That should cut down on lines.

Food and drinks, too, should be easy to come by.

The concourses are much wider than those at either Memorial Stadium or Oriole Park -- up to 64 feet wide in some places, compared with an average of 44 feet at Memorial -- and well-lighted. Sports franchises have discovered the value of this retail space when fans feel comfortable enough to linger and spend.

The stadium concessionaire, Fine Host, will be selling from 245 "permanent points of sale," including concession stands, portable food and beverage carts and eight specialty bars. There also will be about 300 vendors roaming the stands with beer and food.

Connecticut-based Fine Host estimates that it will sell more than 6,000 gallons of beer at each game.

Fans familiar with Oriole Park will notice a different system in place at the new stadium's concession stands.

Orioles fans line up, serve themselves food and beverages and take the items to a few central cashiers at each stand -- a system known as "line service."

Fine Host will have as many as six multipurpose cashiers at each stand, both serving the merchandise and taking money, known as a "queue line" system.

Here are a few other elements, some obvious and some not, to look for when you visit the stadium for the first time:

Open corners. The team calls these gaps at the corners of the upper deck "victory notches." The most dramatic element of the stadium's architecture, they were created by the double stacking of skyboxes along the sidelines. Because suites were left out of the end zones, the designers opted to move the end-zone decks down and closer to the field -- leaving the corners open and creating a vista for fans. It allows in a nice breeze during the summer. How this plays in December may be a different story.

Lower concourse "waves." As you walk the lower concourse, you'll notice the ground slopes up suddenly on the eastern edge. This is a function of efforts to minimize the stadium's exterior size. The field was put below ground level, just a few feet above the water table. The locker rooms, main kitchens and even the police holding cells are located in a horseshoe-shaped "basement" that starts under the east end zone and runs halfway around the stadium. Where the basement starts, the floor above had to be sloped up.

Scoreboards. The two jumbo scoreboards represent the latest in technology, never before tested on this scale (24 feet by 96 feet). They require a crew of nearly 20 to operate, including creative people who've learned their trade staging rock concerts and movies. The state got them at a bargain price because the Canadian manufacturer, SACO, wants to use them to land other sports contracts. Coupled with more than 1,800 speakers, the audiovisuals at the stadium should be striking.

A floating kitchen. Look carefully in back of the scoreboard behind the east end zone. Initially, the designers kept this area open on both ends, thinking that restaurants or more suites or some other use might eventually be found for the space. When Fine Host was hired by the team to be the stadium concessionaire, it decided to add a kitchen up there, to augment the basement cooking areas and serve the club and suite customers. The other side remains open and available for later expansion.

Interior ramps. Unlike many previous football stadiums, which have pedestrian ramps grafted onto their exteriors for fans to use to reach the upper decks, the ramps at this stadium are all within the building. The idea is that fans will have a sense of entering the building before they begin the climb.

Asymmetry. Note also that there is not a pedestrian ramp at each corner, as tradition dictates. Instead, the north side of the stadium has a ramp at each corner and a grand entrance in the middle. This also provides for a lounge area one level up, for club and skybox patrons, that has a panoramic view of downtown and Oriole Park. On the south side, the ramps actually overlap in the middle, with lounges in each corner. This improves the views from the lounges and into the stadium for motorists passing on Russell Street and the elevated expressways.

Landscaping. Despite budget cuts, a whimsical touch survived in the landscaping around the stadium. To the north, you can see "X's and O's" of the sort that coaches use to diagram plays. On the southwestern corner, you'll see a giant pattern reminiscent of a piano (the grass is the piano, the black "keys" are on the sidewalk). This is in homage to a piano factory that once occupied this site.

Glass and brick. Significant debate took place among the designers, state and team about what the exterior would look like. Some wanted a sleeker, more modern look in keeping with football's relative youth. Others sought a more traditional look, similar to Oriole Park. The compromise they came up with features elements of both: brick at the base and glass at the top. Breaking up the materials also tricks the eye into thinking the building is smaller and less overwhelming than it is.

Looking up to Oriole Park. Despite its greater size, the Ravens' stadium actually starts lower than Oriole Park. The field is about 10 feet above sea level, and at Oriole Park it is nearly 19 feet. This is a function of the ground sloping down at Camden Yards to meet the Patapsco River and of efforts to push underground as much of Ravens stadium as possible, to limit its exterior bulk.

Radial seating. Note the curve to the seating bowls, which bend in at the corners to form an oblong pattern around the field. This "radial" seating pattern, first developed for ancient Greek amphitheaters, keeps the seats facing the midpoint of the field. Some stadiums are built on a "parallel" grid, which squares the corners. A radial system is more expensive to build, and limits the uses for the field (the World Cup of soccer, for example, won't fit). But it brings fans about five feet closer to the field at the corners and imparts a more pleasing look.

Water pond. Note the greenish pond on the southeastern corner the parking lots. This was retained as a natural drainage system for water runoff, and had to be approved by the state regulators monitoring compliance with wetlands preservation laws.

Pedestrian promenade. A landscaped walkway connects the two stadiums, running from the Eutaw Street plaza across the parking lots and to the north entrance of the Ravens' stadium.

Floating upper deck. A string of lights, mounted on the underside of the upper deck and aimed upward, creates a "glowing" effect the designers say suggests an upper deck that is floating.

No cross aisles. You'll find it difficult to move about laterally within the seating bowl. This is intentional. The stadium is designed to encourage people to use the interior concourses for moving around. There are two reasons for this: It keeps the fans and their money near the concession stands, and it keeps people from milling around, blocking the view of fans seated near the aisles.

XTC Secret exit. Ravens players will, as tradition dictates, enter the field through the player tunnel on the eastern end of the field. But at other times they will have use of a narrow staircase that leads from their sideline bench to their locker rooms just below. ,, The visiting team won't have this privilege because its bench is on the opposite side of the field from the locker rooms.

Pub Date: 8/07/98