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Laminated glass gives Stadium Australia press boxes optimum viewing and acoustic isolation

Stadium Australia

Part of a Laminated Glass News series on Sports and Leisure facilities

Laminated glass gives the press boxes in the world-class Stadium Australia optimum viewing and acoustic isolation.

Sydney's Stadium Australia is the showpiece of the Homebush complex, hosting the Olympic opening and closing ceremonies, the track and field programs, the soccer final and the marathon finish. Seating 110,000 people, the stadium is the largest ever built for an Olympic Games and will be used for sporting events, opera and rock concerts afterwards.

Luxury facilities for special spectator groups such as the media, state dignitaries and corporate sponsors include 160 open corporate boxes in the lower level, with 125 private suites in the middle level – all making extensive use of laminated glass.

HOK + Lobb Global Sports, Leisure and Entertainment Architects of Sydney, in association with local architects BVN, specified laminated glass for the boxes. Project Architect, Tim Brouw, told LGN: "We used floor-to-ceiling, 12 mm thick, clear laminated glass in recessed channels for a frameless look, giving the best possible views while keeping the boxes waterproof and weatherproof. We chose laminated glass for safety, transparency, security and solar control, especially on the eastern side of the stadium."

The views from the boxes are crystal clear, requiring manifestations of anodized aluminum dots on the glass to remind people that the material is really there! The architects also used white translucent laminated glass between the suites, near the doors, to allow maximum light in.

Press boxes

Brouw continued: "The commentary boxes for the Press, on the west side of the stadium, have frameless, 'vision glazing' – full height laminated glass without mullions in front. On the sides, laminated glass is used for 'acoustic glazing' in a double-glazed construction giving an optimal combination of transparency and acoustic isolation."