When completed, it will form a new home for English football.Ī key feature of the new stadium is its partly retractable roof. The design builds upon the heritage of the old stadium to provide future generations of sports and music fans with a venue equipped for the twenty-first century. The new Wembley Stadium will be the first of a new generation of sports stadia, with facilities unparalleled anywhere in the world, including banqueting halls, pre-function gathering spaces and facilities for media coverage. It has also acted as a venue for major rock concerts and other popular events. Home to the England national football team, Wembley was the site of the Olympic Games in 1948 and the football World Cup Final in 1966. Since then it has become the most important sports venue in Britain. Originally known as the “Empire Stadium", Wembley Stadium was built for the British Empire Exhibition of 1924 and was first opened for the 1923 FA Cup Final. With facilities designed to world-class standards and an unparalleled attention to spectator comfort, the stadium’s rich legacy will continue for millions of sports and music fans. This is required in order to reach soil that is suitable for supporting the overall loads of the stadium.The completion of Wembley National Stadium designed by Foster + Partners and HOK Sport, heralds a new chapter for Britain’s iconic venue.
150 feet) into the earth (seen in Figures 6 & 7).
#Wembley stadium design series
Upon reaching the ground, the loads are dispersed into a series of 4000+ piles which stretch up to 45 meters (approx. Also shown is the depth to which these piles were required to reach in order to support the load created by the arch. As can be seen at the Eastern Arch Base – there were 19 piles combined under one pile cap to support the load from the 440 foot high 1040 foot long arch.įigure 7 – This soils cross-section at the location of the Eastern Arch Base shows the layout of the 19 piles in the pile-cap. A number of pile cap layouts were utilized for this project, from 2-piles to 5-piles per pile cap. With no columns to support the roof inside the stadium, a complex web of steel was used to channel loads out to the bowl edges.įigure 4 – This section shows the required sight lines set forth by the Football Association, as well as the slope of the roof structure.įigure 5 – BIM models of the stadium, showing stressing and design.įigure 6 – Seen in this figure are the pile locations used in the construction of Wembley Stadium. This web of steel is used to channel the roof and snow loads to the outside of the bowl structure, in accordance with the “No obstructed view” requirement set by the client.įigure 3 – Aerial view of Wembley Stadium during steel roof erection.
The cross bracing at the interface between the roof structure and bowl, as well as reinforcing steel in the bowl help to resist the lateral load created by wind.įigure 1 – Single line diagram showing the load paths through the building structure.įigure 2 – Steel roof structure being erected during construction. Snow, live, and dead loads are all transferred through a complex web of steel and reinforced concrete to the base. As can be seen in the single line diagram (Figure 1), the loads will follow a large number of paths to the foundations below.