Will Atlanta's new stadium be done in time for the NFL season? Update: more delays possible

There are rows of black panels in the stadium that might be the video screen that goes around the roof opening.
 
They had some blow off and others leaking before they even finished it. Architects design things that can't be built. Having to withstand temperatures from -30 to over 100 makes it a challenge to seal anything.
They've already had to tear some walls apart, the contractors forget to put a vapor barrier in a couple of spots.
It's the stupid black panels that say Citibank stadium that are falling off, if they would have used the tiles like the rest of the building they wouldnt be having this problem.
The side panels blowing off are right above one of the main entrances.
 
They've already had to tear some walls apart, the contractors forget to put a vapor barrier in a couple of spots.
It's the stupid black panels that say Citibank stadium that are falling off, if they would have used the tiles like the rest of the building they wouldnt be having this problem.
The side panels blowing off are right above one of the main entrances.

I'm wondering what will happen when they get one of those driving sleet storms that sticks to the side, freezes and falls off.
 
The third heavy lift crane is being dismantled inside the stadium. They haven't hauled any of the parts out yet. They did that at night on the last crane, I assume to avoid traffic. It was the only one capable of setting material on the roof but they might be able to add boom sections to another crane on site.

They have a truck crane with an extended boom that looks like it is installing video panels in the roof opening.
 
They finished loading out the third lattice boom crane and immediately started dismantling the fourth and final one. Leaving only hydraulic boom cranes inside the building. They are installing the video screen sections around the oculus. No sign of covering the movable roof sections yet.
 
Several large truck cranes have been brought into the stadium. They appear to be installing the video screen around the occulus and it appears that they are finally starting to cover the movable sections of the roof.

One section of the roof that had been covered is opened up again today. I don't know if they are having problems with leaks. It has been raining and they have had trucks in vacuuming up the water on the stadium floor.

An article I found says:
The challenge with the retractable roof has been installing the eight triangular steel petals that would enable it to retract and open like a camera lens. Water-tight seals are being installed on the petals, then it'll take eight weeks to place fluorine-based plastic (ETFE) on them, a spokeswoman said. In early June, workers will bring the petals together for proper alignment with the help of a gigantic crawler crane.
http://www.claremoreprogress.com/sp...cle_a10fc21c-3ccd-11e7-bd10-c3ba214f0684.html

They don't have a gigantic crawler crane in the building anymore if they need to align anything. I thought they would have closed and opened the sections a few times before the big cranes were removed. That article was from May 19th and they had already started dismantling the cranes. If they plan to close the roof in early June as the article says, and it takes 8 weeks to install the panels, the panels won't be on when they close the roof. 8 weeks now takes it to July 20th.
 
They brought in a large truck crane, installed a long lattice extension boom, raised the tip about 20 feet off the ground, turned it a little to the right then back to where they installed it yesterday. This morning they removed the extension boom. I don't know if they had a problem when testing it. The still pictures are an hour apart. The boom sections are still in the building.
 
Whatever problem was they apparently got it solved. They re-assembled the boom and got it raised up over the roof. Looks like the first thing they did was bring the porta potties down.
 
They started moving the roof sections just after noon today and moved them about 1/2 the distance and stopped at about 8PM. I'm assuming they are making adjustments to make sure they work. They have some white covers on one panel visible from the camera. They appear to blow in the wind. Maybe they are a fabric that will be held up by some bows. It would seem strange as it appears that they used insulation on the non movable parts of the roof. The movable parts of the roof are higher and more heat would escape there.

The cameras inside the building has been down for a couple of days. They might be installing the ventilation tubes near the camera position.
 
They started moving the roof again today at 9AM and it appears to be closed at 3 PM. So they spent 8 hours yesterday and 6 hours today to close a roof designed to close in 8 minutes. I'm sure it's part of the testing process to move it slowly.
 
The only visible portion of the building moving at some pace is the video screen around the oculus. Truckloads of panels have been delivered and installed.

The movable roof covering seems to be causing some problems possibly due to weather.

The ventilation system is probably 2/3 of the way around the stadium in the 6 months since they started on it.
 
I thought they were getting to the final parts of the video screen but another semi load showed up this morning.
 
I've been wondering what the panels they are using on the movable sections are as they appeared to be moving in the wind when first installed but now appears to be stable. It's called ETFE film. Apparently it's a multi-layer translucent film that has air constantly blown into it to provide the shape and some insulating value. One of the panels was installed and removed. Maybe it didn't hold air.

http://www.birdair.com/projects/mercedes-benz-stadium
http://www.birdair.com/tensile-architecture/membrane/etfe
http://www.birdair.com/tensile-architecture/membrane/etfe

This article says there were 44 video panels left to be installed as of Thursday night. They say that once the video board installation is completed, the cranes will be removed to prepare the field. They are still planning on being ready on August 29th.

http://www.myajc.com/sports/footbal...s-massive-video-board/DdvpAhOeJniPO3qS7OcKeL/
 
Last edited:
They apparently have all of the video panels installed and 3 of the cranes they were using to move and install them have been taken out of the building. The largest crane they used for the video panels is still there. There are three crawler cranes inside too being used for the ventilation system which seems to be progressing very slowly.
 
They started opening the roof at 11AM local time and at 5PM they weren't halfway yet. They might just be checking the seals where the pieces touch. It looks like there is too much equipment in the way to fully open it. The Birdair panels in the movable sections aren't all installed yet.

The video screen appears to be installed and working. That is ahead of schedule as they said they would be installing that through July. The largest truck crane is still in the building along with two large crawler cranes that they are using to install the ventilation system ductwork at the ceiling.
 


Fuck that's cool


It looks good from that position on the roof. I wonder how it looks from the seats. The indoor camera is placed pretty high so it has a bad angle.

They started laying down some black material in one corner, rolled some pieces at an angle across it at intervals then started dumping gravel on it. It might be a drainage system. There is still a crane in the center of the building and they are working around it. They opened the roof the rest of the way between 10:30 and 2pm today. Then the crane was extended above the roof. Difficult to tell what they are using it for as the pictures are 15 minutes apart.
 
They're working today. I thought they might be getting close to taking the cranes out of the building but they brought in a semi load of material that likely goes on the roof.

It appears they might be almost finished with the ventilation system. I thought they were making 2 complete rings around the stadium but it appears that they aren't going to connect everything together. They dismantled one of the larger suspended platforms they were using to install things on the ceiling. Two others are sitting on the floor possibly waiting for trucks to haul them away. Two smaller ones are still suspended.
 
Back
Top