Estádio Intermunicipal Faro-Loulé

Description

One of the most interesting applications for Textile Architecture is the field of stadium roof construction. Generous, airy, and translucent roof designs which can also be shaped in varied form can be seen worldwide in many stadiums in the meantime. The operators of smaller stadiums also make more and more use of the benefits of this design. The new ?Estádio Intermunicipal Faro-Loulé? which was opened officially in a ceremonial opening on 23rd November 2003 is one of these examples.

In accordance with a layout designed by the architects HOK Sportsevent and the AARQ, Atelier de Arquitectura in Lisbon, the south and east tribunes were each arched over by a roof design suspended from rope binders, using an addi-tional steel arch concept to support this construction.
A total of 32 membrane fields each with a width of 14.40 metres and lengths varying from 31.00 to 45.00 metres is roofed. The covered base surface is a total of 10168m2 in size.

Highly-resistant polyester fabric with double-sided PVC coating was selected as membrane material. Due to the use of a final paint coat with fluorine poly-mer paint, the material additionally features a dirt-resistant surface finish.

The membrane building specialist CENO TEC GmbH carried out the work with the engineering specialist office IPL-Ingenieurplanung Leichtbau GmbH who were already involved in the project implementation at a very early stage to make the architects´ design feasible for the construction of the membrane, i.e. to harmonise the material-specific and design-construction-type require-ments which characterise the construction of the membrane such as sufficient curvature in opposite directions to avoid water or snow pockets, suitable steel elongations and fixing details appropriate for membranes.
In particular, it was important to dissolve the relatively flat discontinuous course of the membrane and to transform it into a stable structure.
Practicable details conforming with the supporting framework structure to be provided externally had to be developed for production and mounting which made it possible to deviate loads burdening the membrane structure in a clean and, as far as possible, linear manner to the supporting framework. The mem-brane surfaces and the individual cutting strips were determined based on the externally specified geometry. Here the exact material behaviour under load had to be determined by a load-controlled biaxial test which in the end served to determine the compensation values for the cut.
The individual fields - approx. 550 m2 in size including the edge designs - were manufactured completely at the CENO TEC plant and shipped to the building site. There, the elements were mounted to the supporting framework within a short period.
In this respect, Textile Design can be compared with ?Prefabricated House Operations?, meaning that the mounting time compared to the project term is relatively short. The mounting work was implemented within a period of 5-6 weeks.

Description of the environmental conditions