A stadium boom in Brazil

As the host country for the World Cup Soccer championships, Brazil became the epicenter of all things soccer, as well as a nation splurging on new stadium venues in anticipation of the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. Each of three new Brazilian stadium designs incorporate features using Serge Ferrari fabrics, and the La Tour-du-Pin, France, manufacturer of composite membranes claims the company is “at the heart of the sporting passion!”

In Culabá, considered the hottest city in Brazil and the capital of southern Amazonia, architect Serge Coelho of GCP Arquitetos set firm criteria for the design of Arena Pantanal. The stadium had to be sustainable with the lightest possible environmental footprint; it had to consist of four modular units, two of which could be dismantled and re-purposed; and it had to boost an economically disadvantaged neighborhood into a leisure and cultural area. Serge Ferrari’s Soltis FT 381 composite formed a cactus green microclimatic façade for Arena Pantanal that provides thermal protection, natural ventilation and the ability to allow water from basins located near the stands to pass through and evaporate to cool spectators. Portals framing the terraces used Précontraint 902 S2 material illuminated at night by LEDs to give a lightweight counterbalance to the huge steel structures. The composites are recyclable through Serge Ferrari’s Texyloop® process, and LEED certification for the stadium is underway.