Awards
Siesa Ramabodu Stadium Wins Tubular Category
Scooping the award for best Tubular Steel structure was Siesa Ramabodu Stadium
in Bloemfontein. Home to Bloemfontein Celtic, the Stadium was renovated to better
serve the community by increasing its capacity, comfort and quality as a sporting
venue.
When interviewed regarding this project, the first aspect architect Aadil Bham
commented on was the professional and excellent manner in which the team
collaborated while executing this project. “All contractors and sub-contractors really
came together well to give us a good final product.” says Bham. The project came
about from a collaboration between the Mangaung Municipality and the Freestate
Department of Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation, and the Department of Public
Works. They identified this site as a priority for development within the municipality
and developed a wishlist in terms of what they wanted to achieve. Their main
priority was the upliftment of the sports offering from this facility, bringing it to a
contemporary standard. They also wanted to create a facility that provided a quality
experience to the community, with soccer being such a loved sport in the area.
“The Stadium is a well-balanced and aesthetically pleasing structure. One of the
really clever aspects is that it uses a double chord with a compression member where
the loads are high, and converges into one chord where the loads are low. Another
interesting aspect is the use of circular hollow section girts to the facias, which
eliminates the use of a complicated sag system.” – Franco Mordini, ASTPM (The
Association of Steel Tube and Pipe Manufacturers)
Click here to read more about the project
WATCH Click here to view a video on the project