Sustainable Football Stadium Designed & Built for UEFA EURO with Graitec & Autodesk Software

The main challenge faced by Popp & Asociatii was the realization of the general design of the construction, in the design and build regime, with a deadline of only 18 months from the beginning of the design to the completion of the construction. Also, the large size of the structure in plan brought with it a series of difficulties in conforming and designing the resistance structure, and the team of engineers and technicians who worked on this project was an extremely large one.

Using Autodesk BIM 360, which allowed the collaboration of all the disciplines involved in the project from the concept phase, Popp & Asociatii was able to meet the deadline for the completion of the work. In addition, the fact that not only the specialists who worked on the project, but also the beneficiary of the investment and the general contractor had real-time access and could observe the evolution of the project led to a better management of the time resource.

Furthermore, given the large number of engineers and technicians involved, the ease of collaboration thanks to Autodesk programs was extremely helpful.

The complexity of the project required the use of tools that allow the creation of a 3D model with a high degree of detail (LOD 300, 350, 400) in order to coordinate with the other specialties involved.

Graitec PowerPack for Autodesk Revit includes a multitude of functionalities and commands designed to improve and even automate work in a project. The development of the project at the same pace for all specialties from the concept phase is a first advantage, to which is added the access and real-time involvement of the beneficiary and the general contractor. All this together led to a good coordination of the whole project and reduced working times.

Another advantage was given by the possibility of coordinating the entire structural design team which included 25 engineers and technicians. With an impressive range of tools, PowerPack for Autodesk Revit focuses on simplifying the modeling process, family management, improving workflow and interdisciplinary collaboration by facilitating good collaboration for all specialists involved in a project: architect, construction engineer, installation engineer. It represented, therefore, a valuable means of realizing the project, flexible and complete, available to all collaborators. Thus, another benefit given by the use of Graitec and Autodesk technologies is the efficient coordination of the execution of prefabricated elements.

In addition, it is very useful that Autodesk programs allow, on the one hand, the import of files from other programs and, on the other hand, the export to IFC format so that they can be imported into specific calculation programs.

For this project, Popp & Asociatii team used Autodesk Revit applications with the extra functionality provided by Graitec PowerPack for Autodesk Revit, Autodesk BIM 360 and Autodesk Navisworks.

Using Autodesk BIM 360, part of the Autodesk Construction Cloud, all parties involved in the project had simultaneous access to information, in the same digital work platform (Common Data Environment), since the concept phase.

Autodesk Revit was used to model complex structures containing raker beams, graders, columns with atypical sections, complex floors, foundations and sweeps.

Graitec PowerPack for Autodesk Revit allowed Popp & Asociatii to reinforce monolithic or precast concrete structural elements, as well as rigid reinforced concrete elements. Dedicated controls allowed Popp & Asociatii to customize all objects by assigning them names and labels, which made it easy to quickly identify them, filter them for BOMs, modify or remodel them.

Reinforcing, detailing and generating rebar schedules have been greatly improved and made easy by using the dedicated commands from the PowerPack.

Also, the Graitec PowerPack for Autodesk Revit tools led to an easy elaboration of the execution drawings: plans, sections, details, BOMs, all that information intended to lead to a good knowledge of the project in order to execute the structure.

Autodesk Navisworks is the tool that helped us detect collisions and resolve them during design. It is a user-friendly application, easy to use, very useful because it offers the possibility to see in real time if there are overlaps of routes between specialties. This was absolutely necessary in this project because the specialists using Autodesk Revit worked on the modeling of the stadium at the same time, which means that any changes, additions were instantly seen by everyone involved.

Building importance-exposure class: II - Buildings that present a major danger to public safety in case of collapse or serious damage, such as stadium stands, according to CR 0_2012 / P100-1/2013.

It can host football and rugby matches, being dimensioned according to the applicable requirements of the UEFA accreditation regulation – level 4.

The Steaua Stadium is, without a doubt, an emblematic structure for Bucharest. The large size of the structure in plan brought with it a series of difficulties in the conformation and design of the resistance structure, for which the team of engineers and technicians of Popp & Asociații found the appropriate solutions.

The structural proposals for this stadium considered the architectural requirements ("visible faces", unfinished), the short deadline for completing the execution works and the budget in which the investment had to fit. The project was carried out in the Design and Build system, and the collaboration with the other specialties was successful. The project was coordinated using the Autodesk BIM 360 application, which allowed the development and planning of the project at the same pace for all the specialties involved, right from the concept phase.

Among the special solutions adopted and implemented by the Popp & Asociații team are: jointing of the floors above the basement and ground floor, the use of "lock-up" type devices for the metal roof in order to take over the effects produced by temperature variations, the adoption of the prefabrication solution for the beams raker and gradene.

The project Steaua Stadium obtained:

- The 1st prize for performance and quality in the design of construction structures, awarded by the Association of Structural Engineers in the framework of the AICPS "Project of the Year" 2021 awards;

- The distinction "Architecture and public investments" within the Bucharest Architecture Annual, 2021 edition, section Built Architecture / Public Architecture.

The work was selected to be presented at Autodesk University 2022 held in New Orleans, in the session 3D Rebar Stadiums and Multilevel Structures: A Practical Walk-Through.

In plan, the building is divided into four distinct areas: the west tribune (the official tribune) – height regime S+P+4E and the east tribune, the north and south lawns, which have a height regime S+P+E.

The general constructive system is made of monolithic reinforced concrete frames in the superstructure, with additional walls in the infrastructure. The raker beams and beams are made of precast reinforced concrete. The metal staircase in the VIP area is made entirely of welded sheets, joined at the level of the current floors, the platforms and ramps being in the console. The constructive system of the roof is a steel trusses with a length of 40 m, of which 32 m in the console.