Sport
London Stadium (Olympic Stadium)
ETFE cushion roof canopy over the bowl at London Stadium.
Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London
- Sector
- Sport — stadium and arena
- System
- Inflated ETFE cushions on a long-span steel and cable roof
- Why ETFE
- Very large clear spans at a fraction of the weight of glass
The challenge
Converting an Olympic venue into a year-round stadium meant covering every seat in the bowl. A conventional glazed or heavy clad canopy would have demanded far more steel than the existing structure was designed to carry.
The ETFE solution
An inflated ETFE cushion canopy, carried on a lightweight cable and steel roof, cantilevers over the seating. Each cushion is a sealed, air-filled panel weighing a fraction of an equivalent glass unit, so the roof spans far out over the bowl without a forest of supporting columns.
The result
Spectators sit under cover in diffused daylight rather than deep shadow, the pitch keeps the light it needs, and the roof structure stayed within the weight budget the original stadium frame allowed.
