Bundestagarena, Berlin

Description

At the 2006 Football World Championship in Germany, the Bundestag presented itself to an international audience in the "Bundestagsarena", which was modelled after the dome of the Reichstag building.

"The Bundestagsarena is a worldwide unique parliamentary object: Visitors to the World Championship will have the opportunity to get information on the work and the functionality of the Bundestag under the glass dome", said the President of the Bundestag, Dr. Norbert Lammert, on the 22nd of May 2006, when he formally set his hands to the assembly of the last film.

Ideally situated between the Bundeskanzleramt (Office of the Federal Chancel-lor) and the Reichstag, a system building made of braced girders was temporarily erected. Roof and façade were divided into 21 fields, stringed with a single-layer of ETFE film. Each field comprised an area of approximately 69 m².

ETFE film is crystal clear, offering a translucency degree of about 97%, and a transparency to UV rays of almost 100%. In order to reduce the blinding effect and the interior temperature rise due to excessive solar radiation, the upper areas of the film had been printed in a special reflecting silver colour. The print was implemented in shadowing degrees of 70%, 50% and 20%. The lower part remained transparent.

CENO TEC used a total of approximately 1,800 m² of material. The surface of the dome was 1,500 m².

The challenge was to stretch this flimsy film (200 microm) in such a way, that it would resist atmospheric exposure (e.g. thunderstorms). For this purpose, a combination of an appropriate language of shapes and technical elements was used. This was realised by using a linear profile attachment along the support-ing binding stones, as well as a lower edge formation made of chain-like clamp-ing profiles. One shaping and stabilising cable each is provided in the centre of the path.

The conceptual design was developed in close cooperation with the event contractor GU Nüssli and FormTL, with whom CENO TEC has already carried out various outstanding projects over the past few years.

Description of the environmental conditions