Sustainable Design

  • Sydney, Australia
  • Completion: Mar 1999
  • Capacity: 80,000

ANZ Stadium is a model of green, innovative, functional and cost effective design and construction. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided that the Olympic Games in Australia should be developed as the "Green Games." The IOC requested that all new facilities for the Games be designed to high environmental standards. Within the established budget, the design team was charged to explore all opportunities to conserve energy and water resources and to develop aggressive waste reuse and recycling strategies.

ANZ stadium was designed by an HOK Sport joint venture, Bligh Lobb Sports Architecture.

Design Process
The design team's energy modeling was among the most comprehensive ever undertaken for a stadium project. It laid the foundation for incorporating passive ventilation and natural daylighting and for selecting building systems and materials based on life cycle assessment to optimize energy use. Additional environmental measures that were developed as an integral part of the design are cogeneration, water conservation, and advanced waste management techniques.

Energy
The team designed ANZ Stadium to be much more energy efficient than a typical stadium. Strategies include providing passive ventilation to minimize air-conditioning, daylighting to reduce the need for artificial lighting, ample insulation to decrease energy demand, gas cogeneration generators, and gas for cooking. Openings in the roof and walls will promote ventilation, while the roof itself will help reduce solar heat gain to the seating areas. Architectural sunshades protect the glazed wall of the banquet hall to complement the daylighting system while decreasing solar heat gain in this prominent space. Sun shading protects the front entrance and ticketing area, and the stadium's banquet rooms above, to provide a visible statement of the environmentally sensitive design. The ramp tower beyond is part of the passive ventilation system, drawing hot air out of the stadium and reducing the air-conditioning load.

Lighting
The lighting strategy allows daylight to penetrate the building through large glazed walls. Research supplied by the University of Technology, Sydney included a three-dimensional computer model illustrating how to best balance daylighting and electric lighting.

Microprocessor-based lighting controls—including passive infrared occupancy sensor and photoelectric cell daylight sensors—ensure that lighting energy is not wasted in unoccupied spaces and during daylight hours. The electric lighting system uses energy-efficient, high-lumen-per-watt light sources.

Gas-Fired Cogeneration
To reduce demand for grid-supplied electricity, ANZ Stadium has a gas-fired cogeneration plant consisting of two 500kV gas-fired generators. These on-site generators work in conjunction with the main grid supply from 7:00 am to 11:00 pm, cutting energy demand on the supply authority's network.

Flexible HVAC
Environmental control systems make maximum use of passive heating and cooling, natural ventilation, and natural lighting. HVAC services are designed to current best-practice standards, with flexibility for upgrades as technology progresses. Because the stadium's layout is modular and zoned, each sector has easy access for servicing and for making temporary adjustments to accommodate different loads.

Water
The stadium uses water conservation techniques such as a dual water supply, in which toilets and urinals are connected to a nonpotable water supply that comes from the Olympic Coordination Authority (OCA) treatment plant. The most notable water reclamation measure involves collecting rainwater that falls on the stadium roof. Roof water is collected by a siphonic drainage system that passes along the main arch and down the thrust blocks into four large basement tanks with a total capacity of 3,200 m3. This capacity should satisfy the irrigation needs of the stadium's grass field. Stormwater not collected from the roof will go into the local OCA collection system for downstream treatment and recycling. From there, the water will return to the stadium and other venues as part of a nonpotable water supply. Use of recycled and on-site collected water reduced the potable water demand by 56 percent compared to conventional designs.

Passive Ventilation System
The integrated ventilation strategy responds to the IOC's ecologically sustainable design criteria and Multiplex's desire to ensure that patrons will be as comfortable as possible. A natural ventilation system, using simple window openings, would not have been effective for a building this size. Instead, ANZ Stadium's passive ventilation system relies on central shafts, motorized louvers, a central escalator void, and four ramp towers to draw hot air out of the stadium. Modeling showed that the two-way flow venting via shafts would provide a robust, functional solution. Glazed screens and doors placed around the escalator shaft prevent the "dumping" of hot air from lower levels. Backdraft dampers and radiators at air inlets preheat incoming supply air, and passive night ventilation in hot weather reduces the residual cooling load.

Material Resources
Materials that were less energy intensive to manufacture—such as steel, concrete, and concrete blocks—were used whenever possible. Steel and concrete make up the stadium's principal structural elements. The building facade consists mostly of shaded glass, concrete blocks, and insulated steel panels. Timber was obtained from sustainably managed sources, and wood was used sparingly. Other guiding principles for environmentally preferable material selection included use of local source materials, minimizing use of PVC, avoiding materials that include toxic products or that produce toxins in manufacture and use, and avoiding the use of CFC as a refrigerant.

Waste Reduction
Most waste generated during the stadium's operations comes from food and beverages. The three waste streams include recyclables, compostibles, and landfill waste, which are collected in the stadium's public bins. For waste separation, the stadium has twenty-four large waste collection rooms (four on each of the six main levels) and two basement compactor rooms. Waste is transferred from concourses and back-of-house areas to these waste collection rooms. From there, compostible waste moves by chute to the basement compactors, while the rest is transferred down by vehicle. Construction waste recycling helped meet the project goals for reuse and recycling.