Eric Tweedale Stadium
Bressanone, a small town nestled among Italy’s northern mountains, is 15,000 kilometres from the Australian metropolis of Sydney. The prefabricated wooden components travelled around world to Sydney to build Australia’s first sports stadium made entirely of wood. Sources: We Build Value, Timberbiz
The idea of a wooden stadium was born to create an infrastructure that would be perfectly integrated with the natural park in which it is located. And it answers the ever-growing demand from Australia’s largest cities for sustainable infrastructure to develop new ways of living based on green mobility and civil engineering.
With this in mind, the Eric Tweedale Stadium, erected within Cumberland’s Granville Park, a vast green area near Sydney, was built using wood.
The Italian wood supplied by Rubner Holzbau began its journey on trucks, but for the near totality of the trip, the prefabricated parts crossed seas and oceans inside eight containers on board a ship. The long journey was necessary to transport to Sydney not just the wood but also the complex structure for the roof that covers the stadium’s 750-seat grandstand, conceived to withstand vibrations and hold up to strong winds.
The stadium, which hosts the Two Blues Rugby Union Club, is made almost entirely of lamellar wood. In addition to the 750-seat grandstand, it includes various multi-purpose halls, a parking lot, the rugby field and a kiosk.
Each element of the structure was first designed in 3D, then created physically with the goal of creating a project that would marry two requirements: on one hand, the need for a modern and efficient sports venue; on the other, the desire for a sustainable project perfectly integrated in its environment.
