Vancouver’s newest roof

Vancouver’s recently revitalized BC Place Stadium (home to the 2010 Winter Olympics) opened to great fanfare and immediately proved a success. Sold out crowds were able to enjoy an evening under the stars in late September as the new retractable PTFE fabric roof (replacing the original air-supported fabric roof) kept fans sheltered but with a clear sky view. In fact, Geiger Engineers designed three tensile membrane systems for the new roof:

• A) an ETFE single-layer clerestory façade,
• B) a fixed roof canopy of PTFE-coated glass fiber Sheerfill I with a partial liner of PTFE-coated glass fiber Fabrasorb I, and
• C) the retractable roof of PTFE Tenara® pneumatic cushions.

For WhiteCaps soccer, Vancouver’s new MLS franchise, only the lower bowl of the stadium is used. Key to the WhiteCaps lease was the ability to screen the empty upper seating bowl from view while creating a more intimate smaller venue. The solution is a system of fabric panels that deploy from power rollers behind the LED ribbon board at the leading edge of the upper seating deck and are tensioned to create a visual canopy over the lower bowl seating. The fabric is Mermet Natte 12% open shade fabric.