海角视频

Emirates Stadium, Arsenal Football Club

London, UK

Opened in 2006 the Emirates Stadium garnered rapturous reviews from players and fans alike. 海角视频鈥檚 work on the building and surrounds required high level co-ordination and teamwork to meet the needs of this modern football club. This meant delivering optimum solutions for crowd comfort and views, atmosphere, facilities and media access, all within a small triangular site in a dense part of London.

Highly efficient structural design is at this project鈥檚 heart, providing excellent views for all 60,000 spectators while keeping within challenging height constraints imposed by the local authority. Considerably lighter than comparable stadia, the elegant steelwork structure was designed as a straightforward build, saving construction time and cost. The sloping roof maximises sunlight and also helps reduce shadowing on the pitch which can hamper television coverage.

In search of the optimum shape, over a hundred designs were created for the stadium鈥檚 internal bowl, which has seating and hospitality boxes on four tiers. Smooth cladding underneath the upper tiers gives an uncluttered appearance and helps reflect sound, building atmosphere in the seating below. Hi spec corporate entertainment boxes and meeting spaces in the building provide conference/meeting facilities to provide additional revenue streams on non-match days.

The stadium site is bounded by railways and underground tunnels on two sides and two new access bridges were required as part of the scheme. The design and construction of these bridges was subject to rail approvals from both Network Rail and London Underground, which were coordinated by 海角视频.

Aesthetically, the white tubular truss members forming the bridges reflect the stadium鈥檚 roof structure. The design of the bridges was also significantly influenced by their method of construction. The North Bridge was lifted into position using a large crane whereas the larger South Bridge was launched over the railway during a weekend railway possession. The bridges were also subject to technical approval by the London Borough of Islington highways department and were adopted by the council on completion.

Apart from the overground railway lines, we also had to contend with Victoria Line Underground tunnels and a variety of buried services including a large diameter Thames Water sewer.

The bridges were designed to allow for evacuation of 60,000 spectators from the stadium within 10 minutes. High barriers were required along the sides of the bridges to prevent objects from being thrown on to the railway below. The screens were solid to a minimum height of 1.8m to provide this protection as well as to allow the bridge to accommodate mounted police to martial the spectators. This aspect also dictated the asphalt deck, to ensure a non-slip surface for horses. Bridge details were also developed to be robust and resistant to vandalism.

A relatively high lux level lighting on the bridges was specified for match days. Due to their large width, the bridges would normally require high lighting columns to shed enough light across from the sides. However, central lighting columns would have been a potential hazard to crowds and since high columns were precluded by planning restrictions, an alternative solution had to be found. The solution that we developed was to utilise reflector lights where the light source shines upwards on to a reflector. Apart from giving excellent coverage on the deck, these lights have the advantage of producing minimal glare on to the railway below, preventing the potential hazard of distracting train drivers.

The fans鈥� experience is at the heart of our design. The air conditioning system has been strengthened to cope with the huge influx of fans in a short space of time, and to handle humidity on a rainy day. Complex 3D modelling was used to fit heating and cooling services equipment and pipework into the relatively compact spaces in back of house areas.

The result of our work across the engineering spectrum, Emirates Stadium has been a triumph in design and usability which has helped create a new football landmark for the club and for London.