File:Looking N at Brick Breed Fieldhouse - parking lot construction - Montana State University - Bozeman, Montana - 2013-07-09.jpg

English: Looking north at Brick the main (south) entrance to Brick Breeden Fieldhouse on the campus of Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana. The main parking lot in front of the fieldhouse is being renovated.

Local architect George Carsley and nationally-known architect Cass Gilbert developed the MSU master campus plan in 1917. But anticipating sudden growth after World War II, a master plan re-design occurred in 1940 that clustered buildings much closer together. Campus growth expanded beyond the 1917 and 1940 plans, however, leading to more haphazard placement of buildings than the symmetry envisioned by the 1917 plan. Brick Breeden Fieldhouse is typical of the asymmetric growth of the campus.

University President Roland Renne intended to build an indoor football arena. He approached local architect Oswald Berg, Jr., to design it. Such a large structure, however, proved impossible to finance, so a fieldhouse was constructed instead. Designed to be a health and physical education center, the original January1956 design was a low cylindrical building topped with a dome with curving one-story office wings extending north and south. The plan was to construct the center structure first, and the wings later. However, only the northern wing was built – and it was significantly altered from the original plan.

Brick Breeden Fieldhouse was designed by omnipresent local architect Fred F. Willson and local architect Oswald Berg Jr. The $1.6 million ($13 million in 2013 inflation-adjusted dollars) structure was dedicated in December 1957 and opened in 1958. The building was named after Brick Breeden, who played on MSU's "Golden Bobcats" 1928 national championship basketball team and who later was head basketball coach and athletic director at the college.

The central structure consists of a steel frame in pink-tinted concrete masonry, although portions of the building are clad in brick. The pattern is stacked bond. The foundation is concrete foundation and the roof a membrane. Exterior bays are defined by deep concrete ribs which taper in a curve outward at the top. Vertically oriented, fixed windows with aluminum mullions connect the exterior wall to the dome. These windows lean outward toward a metal circumferential fascia, giving the building the appearance of flaring. There are regularly spaced low vents on the domed roof. Interior doors are metal, except as noted below.

As constructed, the original entry was on the west side. It was a rectangular structure forming a two story-high foyer with a slightly upward-curved roof. A steeply-sloped berm led down to the west. Sidewalks approached from the northeast. Access was via seven-riser concrete steps heading south, which led up to a small concrete plaza one floor up. The west wall here was in two parts: The northern section was about two and a half bays wide, and made of floor-to-ceiling pink concrete masonry three stories high. A three-bay wide, floor-to-ceiling glass curtain wall (also three stories high) formed the south section of this part of the west wall. Three double glass doors provided entry to what was the main level of the fieldhouse through a single-story foyer. A 17-riser concrete staircase heading south led up to another, larger plaza one floor up. A glass curtain wall 15 bays wide and two stories high formed the main entrance. On the left (northern) end of this wall were two sets of glass double doors. On the right (south) end were seven sets of glass double-doors which gave entry to the second level of the fieldhouse through a two-story foyer. (This was later reduced to six double-doors.) Except for the transoms over every double-door, all the glass here was frosted light blue.

A single-story structure extended north from the foyer structure. This was built at the main level of the fieldhouse, which meant it projected out over empty space on the first sub-level of the fieldhouse. Below it was concrete-floored open air space. A roof extended even further to the north to continued to cover this space. Paralleling the sidewalk was a small access road that led to this space, forming a curved driveway in front of it. The space served as sort of pavilion for guests debarking from automobiles in the driveway. Much later, the back part of this pavilion was enclosed and turned into offices.

Originally, a wing (constructed in 1957) projected out from the fieldhouse at the man level. Three sets of five-riser concrete stairs led up to this wing, which was clad in pink concrete masonry. The first story of the north face of this two-story wing was glass, six bays wide. The middle two bays had glass double-doors. Originally, a space about 25 feet wide separate the north wing from the projecting pavilion extension of the foyer. In the 1970s, this was filled with a structure that was flush with the north face of the north wing. (The pavilion extension went past the façade of the north wing by about 15 to 20 feet.) The first floor of this fill-in structure was clad in pink concrete masonry, but the second floor was floor-to-ceiling windows. A third floor with a steeply pitched (60 degrees) roof was clad in grey vinyl siding. The west side of this fill-in structure was about five feet higher than the pavilion wing, so that if formed a kind of dormer through which windows gave light into the offices on the third floor. The east side of this fill-in structure was about three feet lower than the cornice line of the north wing, and transom-like windows in the north wing gave light to the second floor offices inside.

To the west of the north entrance, a rectangular service wing was added. The rear third of it against the fieldhouse) was two stories high, while the northern third was a single story high. Extending from the northwest corner was a covered walkway connecting the fieldhouse to Shroyer Gym. The north-facing northeast corner had a garage door in it. The east face had five small square windows and two metal doors set into it. This wing was probably built at the same time as the Hosaeus Fitness Complex in 1972-1973/

The east façade of the fieldhouse was also changed. This curved building wraps around the east and southeast façades. On the north end is a plain brick single-story structure with a garage door in the southern third of it. A plain aluminum canopy supported by steel posts covers three service areas. The exterior wall of this service area is concrete block. Along the southeast is a two-story service building whose ground floor is set halfway below grade. Small square windows on the second floor provide light and below-grade metal doors provide entry.

The south façade of the building was originally blank like the east and southeast. Today, it is the fieldhouse's main entrance. A huge parking lot exists on this side of the building. The entrance is set at the second level of the fieldhouse, and concrete stairs of 11 and 13 risers lead up to it. The new main entry faces slightly south-southwest, and is four bays wide. The two leftmost bays consist of two sets of glass double-doors with a double-high transom light overhead. The bay second from right has a single set of glass double-doors set left. Emblazoned on the fascia overhead is the word "TICKETS". Upon entering this door, the visitor will see a will-call ticket booth immediately to the right (behind what would have been the other set of glass double-doors). The rightmost bay is brick to about three feet, and a ticket window above that. It, too, has a fascia emblazoned with "TICKETS" above it.

The third level of the fieldhouse on the south side has been extended outward slightly. A glass curtain wall echoes the curtain wall on the west façade. A sharply pitched gable-like structure juts out of the two leftmost bays. Beneath a moderate eave is a floor-to-ceiling glass wall framed in metal.

To the west of the new main entrance is a small, one-story structure. A berm rises up to the windowsills. The roof is flat, and the façade is brown concrete masonry. A metal double-entry door is on its left.

A curving thin brick interior wall pierced by doors separates the entry areas from the arena inside the fieldhouse. Bleachers rise nearly to the window under the dome's eaves, and the steel trusses of the interior and dome are exposed. The building can seat 9,500.

The north wing addition in structure was designed by in 1969 by Berg-Grabow and Partners (the successor to Willson and Berg). It is likely that the small office jutting off the south entrance was built at this time as well. The northwestern fill-in structure and covered walkway to Shroyer Gym were probably built in 1973.

As constructed, the main floor of the arena was dirt. A wooden court was assembled every time a basketball game was played there, and wooden boardwalks led from the entryways to the stands. The dirt floor was covered with a synthetic polyurethane "Tartan" floor and retractable bleachers installed in 1980.

The new main entrance was constructed in 1996, and completed in 1998. The $13.2 million renovation also added elevators and handicapped accessible concessions and restrooms, replaced the original bleacher seats, added a fire suppression system, added seismic reinforcements, and upgraded the HVAC system. Offices and lockerrooms within the structure were also renovated. The east-southeast wraparound addition added in 2007.

Brick Breeden Fieldhouse no longer retains sufficient design integrity for it to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

At the time of its construction, Brick Breeden Fieldhouse was the largest unsupported wooden structure in the world. As of 2013, it is the third-largest, behind the Walkup Skydome in Flagstaff, Arizona, and the Tacoma Dome in Tacoma, Washington.

The structure was originally known as MSC Fieldhouse. It was renamed for Brick Breeden in 1981. The arena inside the fieldhouse was named for Max Worthington (a colleague of Breeden's on the "Golden Bobcats" basketball team) in 1985.