Specialty Fabrics Review August 2019 - 87

"We spent quite a bit of time researching the
area; visited the North Shore [of Minnesota's
Lake Superior shoreline]; were in awe of the
northern lights; and all throughout the stadium
we have tried to use colors and textures and
materials to recall the state of Minnesota."
For example, the taut forms of the fabric wrap
covering the stadium are meant to mimic water
flowing in the nearby Mississippi River as well
as crashing against the cubic rock forms of Lake
Superior's rugged shoreline.
SOUND SENSATION
A standing-only section of the stadium is
designed to engage fans with the action on
the field. It is also the source of much of
the sound that is calculated to overwhelm
the visiting team, an effect the Minnesota
United management calls a "wall of sound."
A specially designed area set at one end of
the stadium oval, the standing-only section
is canted at the steepest angle of any viewer
section. The fans here are not given seats
but railings that they can grip for stabilizing
their stance; this section is fitted with drink
holders and shelves for holding food. To allow
full view of the playing field, each row is
significantly higher than the row in front
of it. Behind this and all the surrounding
bleacher sections is the concave curvature
of the PTFE skin that embraces the entire
stadium, precisely designed to reflect all
sounds from within the stadium back toward
the field. Miller describes the composition of
the fabric as like "the taut head of a drum,"
reflecting and amplifying any sound to the
focal center of the stadium.
"A typical PTFE glass fabric that has been
used since the 1970s is usually a tight weave to
give it structural strength. In that instance, the
PTFE coating of the fiberglass is run through
the coating bath and sealed. This process of
coating normally produces a more opaque
fabric than what we were looking for," says
Martin Augustyniak, senior associate, special
projects engineer, Structures & Facades Group,
Walter P Moore (WPM), Houston, Texas.
"Our approach was to create a fabric
that would give us a much more luminous,
translucent fabric by opening up the weave
to create tiny 'windows' that allow more
light through, then laminating both sides
of the glass scrim with the PTFE to create

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Specialty Fabrics Review August 2019

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