The 26th Summer Universiade games recently took place in August this year. The games were hosted by the city of Shenzhen, located on the southern tip of China and on Hong Kong border. Shenzhen, populated by approximately 13 million people, has been considered the most rapidly growing city in China for the past 30 years.
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Shanghai Taiyo Kogyo is responsible for the design, fabrication and construction of the membrane structures for the Main Stadium, the Gymnasium, and the Swimming Pool, a massive feat and one with beautiful results. The venues with LED lighting system are referred to by locals as three "large shining crystals” for their appearance.
These three structures join the Baoan Stadium, which was also completed by Shanghai Taiyo Kogyo earlier this year for the Universiade games.
The Main Stadium is built to accommodate 60,000 spectators. The roof on this massive stadium is comprised of a single layer steel lattice structure with PTFE panels of fabric. Thirteen individual panel designs make up the covers over the latticed steel frame, these panels are repeated to create the overall shape totalling 260 pieces of membrane. 140 of these panels are used on the façade with another 120 panels make up the roofing membrane. All fabric used in the structure is high tensile PTFE. The saddle-shaped steel roof is composed of outer ring and inner ring cables for structural stability.
The membrane structure for the Gymnasium is composed of 16 repeatable diamond shaped membranes; each design is repeated 10. A ring shaped steel truss structure provides structural support.
Similar to the Main Stadium, the Swimming Pool is also designed to incorporate a single layer lattice structure made of steel. The roof is composed of 7 similar membrane structure modules, which are symmetrical to the longer and shorter axis. Each membrane unit consists of an upper and lower curved members and 3 differently shaped membrane pieces. The outer membrane consists of inner and outer layers, which are both modularized, a theme that runs through all three of the mega-structures' roofing designs.
