Ontario Celebration Zone Pavilion: A Large Pneumatic Structure

The project is an assembly of two Polyester/PVC-pneumatic structures located at the east coast of Lake Ontario in Toronto/Canada. High wind loads due to the exposed location were expected. The larger of the two structures is 15m high and 60m long. The pneumatic nature of the design was key for winning the public competition, because it allowed erection of a spatial enclosure of this size only within the given timeframe of one week prior to the beginning of the Pan American Games. The build-up of the pneumatic system in an alteration of 1.4m diameter (in average) arch shaped tubes and patches of repetitive pneumatic cushions. A form finding exercise for gravity loads (catenary shape) and wind loads (pneumatic form finding) was combined to optimize the structure's performance towards wind and gravity loads. Physical tube tests were performed by the manufacturer (Tectoniks) and compared by TT with pneumatic EASYTM models. Following that, calculations were performed to normalize the stiffness of FEM-Elements in SOFISTIKTM with the measured tubes and afterwards globally analyze the geometry to determine deflections (important for the operation of the pavilion), stresses and global reactions. ∼60 ground screws were used to anchor both structures to the ground.