Dynamic Skin Highlights Allianz Field

by Marcy Marro | November 1, 2022 12:00 am

Designed by Kansas City, Mo.-based POPULOUS[1], the 19,400-seat stadium is the focal point of a revitalized 35-acre brownfield site that includes a hotel, office, residential, commercial and entertainment spaces. One of the most intimate settings in professional sports, fans get to experience the action on the field from no further than 125 feet from the sidelines.

A full 360-degree canopy is one of the largest in the MLS, and it reflects crowd noise back onto the pitch while protecting 85% of the crowd from inclement weather. The 145,000-square-foot canopy features structural steel framing, which supports the large canopy while also providing strength for the large snow loads of a typical Minnesota winter.

Wrapping the stadium is a fiberglass weave laminated with a PTFE membrane, which was newly developed by Walter P Moore[2], Kansas City, Mo., the project’s structural engineer, along with Saint-Gobain, Merrimack, N.H. The dynamic skin evokes the European feel the owners wanted, while providing a completely enclosed form. The material is colored and backlit, but also transparent to connect fans outside the stadium to the energy inside. The SHEERFILL[3] Illuminate 28 Silver High Light Transmission Membrane is the first large-scale installation of its type in North America.

To create the undulating curves circling the stadium, designers used large-diameter round hollow structural steel (HSS) shapes, coined “driver pipes,” which drive the geometry of the skin form and support the PTFE skin. Walter P Moore created a digital workflow in collaboration with the architect to integrate geometric control and PTFE fabric analysis, allowing near-real-time design iterations. The primary and secondary structure is made up of 4,500 tons of structural steel.

Source URL: https://www.metalarchitecture.com/articles/allianz-field-dynamic-skin/

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