Anything but relaxed…
…that’s how you could describe the construction of our soccer stadium in Lausanne. Concrete is placed under tension there to achieve greater stiffness. But did you know that the prestressing forces at our stadium in Lausanne are roughly equivalent to the force of one of the Space Shuttle’s solid-fuel side boosters (about 12 MN)?
The stadium roof rests on a cast-in-place concrete slab. A tension rod is anchored in the perimeter wall and keeps the roof — which cantilevers more than 17 meters — in balance. The cast-in-place concrete slab, in turn, cantilevers just under 4 meters. A vertical load of approximately 7 MN (7,000 kN) is applied to each of its upper supports; the slab’s cantilever is achieved through prestressing, with a prestressing force of nearly 11 MN.
On the cover of the magazine “Tracés,” Marc Frochaux describes his impression of the stadium as follows:
“Architecture consists of letting us feel what a building can withstand by connecting matter and the human body. When we look at the structural integrity of the Stade de la Tuilière, we can physically grasp the forces that give it its structure. It is a body under tension, shaped by exertion. Thus, Lausanne’s ‘modest icon’ reveals the energy it will contain.”
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