Kickoff to Euro 2012 football

This June, a fairy tale is set to unfold when the European football championships begin in Kiev, Ukraine, with a lovingly renovated stadium where the final games of the Euro 2012 will be played.

Eighty-nine years ago, in the same city on the same grounds, the “Red Stadium” was built on the site of Alekseevsky Park for the second All-Ukrainian Olympic Games in 1923. Over the decades, the stadium was rebuilt and renamed several times. Now called the Olimpijski National Sports Complex, the sports venue has been completely renovated for the Euro 2012. Work was carried out from December 2008 to October 2011. With their renovation plan for the stadium, gmp Architects respected the historic nature of the construction which holds 68,000 spectators: they positioned the supports for the new roof construction outside of the existing distinctive upper-tier stand made of reinforced concrete.

Engineers, Schlaich Bergermann und Partner designed the 45,000m² translucent membrane roof that features 640 high points of light ETFE foil domes. The roof support structure is a spoked-wheel construction with two outer pressure rings and a pull ring on the pitch side. A sophisticated design of interlocking cable trusses span over the seating area to support PTFE-coated glass fiber fabric panels in 80 radiating bays. Each membrane bay is undulated by eight high points suspended by cables.

The order of assembly involving the cable-support structure and the membrane, as well as the cutting pattern design of the membrane roof, was entrusted to engineering consultants formTL. After examining various options for installing the cable-support structure, formTL’s final concept involved pre-assembling the ring cables, radial cables, and knots on the ground, then lifting them up to the upper pressure ring and finally pre-tensioning the lower radial cables. The upper radial cables had to be pulled up equally to the upper pressure ring on all 80 axes in order to avoid overstress in the cable-support structure.

Three qualifying games, a quarter final and the final of the Euro 2012 will all be played at the Olimpijski Stadium. The sports venue is fitted with a roof that will provide fans with light, shade and protection against the rain, all set to witness unforgettable football highlights in all weather conditions.