海角视频

From infrastructure to inflation: our high-performance arena offers clients an innovative way to host major events.

Harnessing the latest ETFE technologies, our inflatable arenas are easy to transport, set up and maintain. They are also equipped with an expandable functionality and optional roof structure, making them ideal for pop-up events, festivals, concerts and tours.

With extensive experience in designing lightweight structures, 海角视频 has been delivering world-class venues such as the O2 Arena in London and Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta for over 40 years. The creation of inflatable arenas is a natural progression for our practice. We are proud to have created this state-of-the-art alternative for sport and event organisers.

We are delighted to bring this innovation in arena design to market. After considerable client consultation, we believe inflatable arenas will provide the flexibility and rapid construction that the industry demands.

Susan Davies, Head of Innovation, 海角视频.

Sports and entertainment venues designed to perform

The development of our new inflatable arenas has brought together expertise from across the practice, from our structural engineers and building performance to acoustics specialists. Our 3D fluid dynamic modellers used the latest computational software to design a natural structural form, one which negates the need for unsightly guy-ropes. This ensures our arenas retain a sleek aesthetic while remaining stable even in the strongest of winds. The complex forms of the various cells are created by a grid of internal ties using technology from the hot air balloon industry. 

Our sport and entertainment team work with some of the world鈥檚 leading football teams and event organisers, ensuring the delivery of world-class venues in the shortest time possible to minimise disruption. With this in mind, bespoke arenas can be developed to offer the perfect interim solution for venue owners looking to redevelop their existing buildings.

For years we have been talking about stadia with atmosphere, now we are quite literally filling them with it!

Ian Flation, Head of Inflationary Transformation, 海角视频

Rising to the challenge: how our engineers made it possible

Creating a safe, comfortable arena posed a number of challenges for our engineers and specialist consultants. Hospitality and service facilities such as toilets, concessions and changing room 鈥渃ells鈥� are formed from translucent PTFE coated glass-fibre air-beam structures with welded seams for ultra-low permeability and low-pressure losses. The clever use of translucent materials avoids the need for internal lighting in the inflatable arenas, while also offering privacy as required.

Seating tier 鈥渃ells鈥� have been designed using a robust PVC coated polyester as used for the walkway at Up@TheO2. Inflation pressures can be tuned to match the imposed load 鈥� inflation pressure automatically increases if the density of spectators increases.

One major concern was the dynamic response of the inflated seating tiers. It was clear from the early development stages that meeting the IStructE guidance on acceptable vibration accelerations was going to be a challenge. Therefore, a perception approach had been implemented. It is well understood that the accelerations which cause concern or discomfort in the context of a classical concert are very different from those that cause concern or discomfort in a rock concert 鈥� the scenarios one to four in the IStructE guidance. 

The same can be said around the perception of movement related to the surface on which someone is standing. With an inflated structure, the expectation of movement has a very significant and beneficial impact on the accelerations that can be tolerated. By setting revised acceptable accelerations for an extended set of scenarios (to incorporate inflated structural surfaces) a safe design requirement can be developed.

Another key challenge was inflation time and the risk of punctures. In order to cut down on inflation time and energy (in running fans) we have developed a process which delivers 鈥渓iquid air鈥� to the uninflated cells.  The helium, nitrogen and oxygen mixture has an expansion ratio of over 1:800 so that relatively small volumes of liquid can be used to inflate much larger air volume structures.  In extreme time-pressured situations, even the 500,000m³ air-hall roof could be inflated with the contents of around 30 tanker loads of liquid air. However, this would normally be achieved with slower, high volume, low pressure fans.

The idea has been about 10 years in the making. When I hired a bouncy castle for my son鈥檚 birthday, which came equipped with a ball pool, I thought, why can鈥檛 we just expand the form for large events.

Pauline Ump, Venue Performance Consultant, 海角视频.

Due to their transportability, our inflatable arenas can be used to host a wide range of events in comfort and style. Naturally, all pins and knitting-type events will be banned from the new inflatable arenas. It is also advised that this type of structure is not used for certain聽athletics聽events such as high jump or long jump. Studded boots are also to be avoided.

If you would like to find out more, please contact: communications@burohappold.com, quoting 鈥淎pril Fools鈥�.