BC Place Roof Replacement

Vancouver, BC
Client: PAVCO
Architecture Firms of Record: PBK in Joint Venture with Stantec
Partner in Charge: Elisa Brants
Project Architect: Mark Koropecky

BC Place Roof Replacement

The most significant renovation to BC Place Stadium included a retractable roof constructed after the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games and is now the home for the Vancouver Whitecaps Soccer team. BC Place’s air-supported roof was the largest of any domed stadium in the world and the new design now make it the world’s largest cable-supported, fully retractable fabric roof measuring more than four hectares in surface area.

36 masts ring the stadium and keep the new retractable roof in place. Each mast is about 50-meters long and weighs about 130 tons. The masts are attached to the centre node, which weighs 120 tons. The node sits 60 meters above the stadium floor, and is at the same height as the original inflatable roof. The individual cables are up to 366 meters in length totalling approximately 35 kilometres of cable for the entire project. The 36 masts are held together with compression beams, and don’t remain stationary; the stadium roof floats on the ring beam on a series of bearings.
The perimeter of the roof has been elevated due to the reduction in pitch of the new dome. To maintain a 60 meter clear high above the event floor, the perimeter façade has increased in height. To accommodate the additional façade area, a number of options were reviewed. These included tensile fabric modular panels, mullion-less glazing systems, and inflated “cushions” all with varying degrees of translucency to effectively have the roof float over the stadium.

Client: PAVCO
Architecture Firms of Record: PBK + Stantec
Design Architect: Mark Koropecky
(While an Associate at PBK)

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