The renovation of Eden Gardens at Kolkata was undertaken to increase its seating capacity from 40,000 to over 100,000 and to modernize its facilities for the 1987 World Cup. Besides increasing the seating capacity, the project involved expanding the facilities of the club house, creating new infrastructure for television and press crews and integrating modern security, communication, lighting and display equipment within the whole. The project was executed in a short span of time and under extremely trying conditions.
The two main design challenges were the provision of a roof with maximum coverage and minimal support and the erection of a geometrically precise roof over an irregular stadium. The old stadium was transformed into the world’s largest stadium at the time, with a capacity of 94,000 seats. The most challenging task was that of roofing the existing stadium with maximum cover and minimum supports. This was done using 42 identical space frames measuring 110’ X 32’, each supported on a single column with a maximum cantilever length of 82 ft.
The significance of the project lies in the manner in which the irregularities of the old structure have been accommodated by using gable frames between the regular space frames and covering them in different colours of similar fibre-glass sheets. The entire project was completed in 9 months.
Kolkata
Year: 1986
The renovation of Eden Gardens at Kolkata was undertaken to increase its seating capacity from 40,000 to over 100,000 and to modernize its facilities for the 1987 World Cup. Besides increasing the seating capacity, the project involved expanding the facilities of the club house, creating new infrastructure for television and press crews and integrating modern security, communication, lighting and display equipment within the whole. The project was executed in a short span of time and under extremely trying conditions.
The two main design challenges were the provision of a roof with maximum coverage and minimal support and the erection of a geometrically precise roof over an irregular stadium. The old stadium was transformed into the world’s largest stadium at the time, with a capacity of 94,000 seats. The most challenging task was that of roofing the existing stadium with maximum cover and minimum supports. This was done using 42 identical space frames measuring 110’ X 32’, each supported on a single column with a maximum cantilever length of 82 ft.
The significance of the project lies in the manner in which the irregularities of the old structure have been accommodated by using gable frames between the regular space frames and covering them in different colours of similar fibre-glass sheets. The entire project was completed in 9 months.