U.S. BANK STADIUM

Description

Stadia become multipurpose venues
Exciting and iconic sports events, like the Super Bowl, are not the only events occurring at stadiums. With the ability to gather thousands of people under one roof, stadia are now multi-faceted destinations, that entertain outside of just the professional sports genre. In general, stadium and arena designs have changed over the last 15 years to accommodate more than just professional sports teams. These spaces are used for musical concerts and other exciting special events. No matter the location around the world there are commonalities in overall design results, and they are the comfort and experience of the individuals in these stadiums. Vector Foiltec has been an integral part of the transformation of stadia with their Texlon® ETFE (ethylene tetrafluoroethylene) technology.

New era in stadium construction
The early completion of the new home of the Minnesota Vikings, marked a new era in stadium construction. By utilizing Vector Foiltec’s transparent Texlon® ETFE system for 60% of the roof at U.S. Bank Stadium, sunlight comes in, but simultaneously keeps snow, rain, cold and heat out. The superb construction is the largest ETFE roof in North America, spanning 22.000m², and the first stadium to incorporate this technology. The weather conditions in Minnesota were a unique challenge when designing the roof. Vector Foiltec collaborated with a talented team of architects to help engineer a roof that could withstand harsh winter conditions, while maintaining an aesthetically pleasing roof design. Some of the individual
Texlon® ETFE panels are over 110m long, resulting in a significant reduction in the weight of the supporting structure.
The new home of the Minnesota Vikings, was designed to resist the potential devastation of a 100-year snow event.

LEED Gold Certification
As with most projects in the United States, U.S. Bank Stadium planned for LEED certification after its completion. In November 2017, it official reached it goal, and received Leadership in Energy and EnvironmentalDesign (LEED) Gold certification. Vector Foiltec’s Texlon ETFE system is part of the strategy to reduce the ecological footprint. The weight of the steel roof structure is less due to implementation of ETFE, and the adjusted transparency of the technology will allow for less artificial lighting, while helping control solar heat gain.

Description of the environmental conditions