project

Lord's Cricket Ground – Tensile Fabric Roof Canopy & Façade Cladding, Compton & Edrich Stands

Membrane
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  • Tensile fabric roof canopy over the Compton and Edrich Stands at Lord's Cricket Ground
  • PVC membrane façade cladding on the Compton and Edrich Stands, Lord's
  • Double-curved aluminium bullnose edge to the tensile membrane roof at Lord's
  • Fabric roof canopy at Lord's alongside the Media Centre, St John's Wood, London
  • Spectators beneath the tensile fabric stadium roof at Lord's Cricket Ground

General information

  • Home page
    https://www.architen.com/projects/lords-cricket-ground-compton-edrich-stands/
  • Location address
    Lord's Cricket Ground, St John's Wood, London, UK
  • Location country
    United Kingdom
  • Year of construction
    2021
  • Name of the client/building owner
    Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC)
  • Function of building
    Stadia
  • Degree of enclosure
    Open structure
  • Climatic zone
    Temperate - cold winters and mild summers
  • Number of layers
    mono-layer
  • Type of application of the membrane
    covering
  • Primary function of the tensile structure
    • Rain protection
    • Space defining elements
    • Sun protection

Description

The rebuilt Compton and Edrich Stands at Lord's needed a roof canopy and façade that would read as one family with the neighbouring Media Centre, whose sculptural shell is built from individually shaped GRP panels. Using GRP again across two much larger stands would have been very expensive. WilkinsonEyre's design was therefore delivered in tensile membrane instead. This kept the same sculptural language at a fraction of the cost, with a lighter load on the supporting structure and a shorter installation period.

The main technical challenge was where the membrane meets a continuous aluminium bullnose along the back of each stand. A tensioned membrane takes up double curvature naturally, but sheet aluminium does not. Architen Landrell folded the bullnose in two directions to achieve true double curvature, so that the rigid edge follows the surface the fabric forms on its own. Gutters, flashings and copings follow the same geometry, which keeps drainage and fixings out of sight and gives a clean edge to the silhouette.

The membrane connection brackets sit on a timber gridshell. Timber has much larger installation tolerances, in both position and rotation, than a membrane system can accept. Checking each bracket against the 3D model by hand was slowing the programme. To solve this, the site team set up a QR-coded datum on the steelwork and used an iPad to overlay the model onto the actual structure in real time. Out-of-tolerance beams showed up straight away and were passed to the timber contractor for correction before the membrane installation reached them.

Client: Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). Architect: WilkinsonEyre. Main contractor: ISG. Engineer: Buro Happold. Membrane design, fabrication and installation: Architen Landrell.

Description of the environmental conditions

Open-air stadium in central London, temperate climate. Approximately 1,300m² of PVC-coated polyester forms the roof canopy and façade framing the upper tiers, providing rain and sun protection to spectators, with concealed drainage along a double-curved aluminium bullnose edge.

Material of the cover

  • Cable-net/Fabric/Hybrid/Foil
    Fabric
  • Material Fabric/Foil
    PVC - coated polyester fabric
  • Material coating
    PVC-coated polyester

Main dimensions and form

Duration of use

  • Temporary or permanent structure
    Permanent

Involved companies

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