Thousands of World Cup fans tooting their vuvuzelas in South Africa last year made the tournament an unforgettable event in Cape Town’s futuristic Green Point Stadium, where a new kind of PVC helped make those horns ring brightly.
Seven decades of experience behind duraskin materials made by Verseidag-Indutex made the textiles the natural choice for the stadium façades and parts of the roof structure.
In the words of GMP architects, the lightweight membrane structure consists of extensive concave features forming a uniform, flowing façade. The translucent surface absorbs and reflects the changing atmosphere of the daylight.”
Easier said than done, says Peter Siemens, Head of Development & Innovation at Verseidag-Indutex. Despite being a worldwide company counting more than 90 years of tradition in coated fabrics, they had to go back to the drawing board.
“The technical challenge in designing this membrane was to create a material that combines
different and sometimes partially contradictory characteristics,’’ says Siemens. ‘’That is, high mechanical strength, high translucency, good weather resistance, high aesthetics, good fire behaviour, longevity and specific acoustic properties.’’
“The most suitable solution for this set of technical and aesthetical requirements was a new PVC product, Duraskin® B3704, a high tenacity polyester mesh coated with a specifically formulated PVC paste”, continues Siemens.
By combining a sophisticated yarn construction, selected high tenacity fibres and a weathering–resistant and dirt-repellent PVC coating with optimised fire-behaviour, Verseidag-Indutex developed a material fulfilling the best of two worlds: the technical and the design needs.
The acoustic properties (no echo effects and no interference on the sound of the speakers - and vuvuzelas - of the stadium) were defined by optimising the viscosity of the paste PVC and the geometry of the mesh structure.
“The PVC coating is an essential component of the product. Without the PVC, it would have been impossible to give the polyester fabric the necessary optics, acoustics, durability and fire performance”, explains Mr. Siemens.
Apart from its use as a secondary roofing membrane, Duraskin® B3704 is also available as a PVC façade material in high resolution digitally printable versions, giving designers and architects even more room for creativity.
“It’s amazing to see how a well-established polymer like PVC continues to surprise us by assuming new shapes every day,’’ says Mr. Siemens, ‘’showing architects that there are still many innovations and inventions to be made by simply using PVC in a clever and creative way.”
