Cape Town Stadium

The skyline of Cape Town is dominated by Signal Hill and Table Mountain. At the foot of Signal Hill lies Cape Town Stadium, embedded in Green Point Common. It was created on the occasion of the 2010 World Cup as a new stadium for football, rugby, and public events, replacing the former rugby stadium.

The circular building—with its curvy contours and metallic, shimmering outer skin of glass-fiber fabric changing according to the light conditions—forms a third element with the top of Table Mountain and the conspicuous peak of Signal Hill. The scale of the arena appears smaller, as it is set within a podium. The large number of spectators—68,000—have their seats on three grandstand tiers, with the upper edge of the tiers undulating significantly owing to the circular geometry. The suspension roof that is suspended from the slightly undulating outer compression ring has been covered with a heavy layer of glazing to counteract wind suction and has a double curvature to assist with the drainage of water from the typical heavy rain events. The 36,000 square meter roof area has been fitted on the outside with translucent laminated glass to protect against direct solar radiation; the 16-meter-wide internal ring features clear glass to allow solar radiation to reach the pitch. The space frame structure, which is supported on cables and is covered by a total of 4,500 tonnes of glazing, is an extremely sophisticated lightweight construction.