Published: November 09, 2010
Birdair, Inc., the leading specialty contractor of lightweight long-span roofing systems and tensile structures throughout the world, has received an Outstanding Achievement Award from the Industrial Fabrics Association International (IFAI) for its work on Moses Mabhiba Stadium. Located in Durban, South Africa, the stadium was built for the 2010 Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup.
Moses Mabhiba Stadium, also known as Durban Stadium, earned the IFAI Outstanding Achievement Award in the Fabric Structures category for tensile structures larger than 2,322 square meters. Projects were submitted in 29 categories overall and evaluated for complexity, design, workmanship, uniqueness and functionality.
Birdair served as roofing subcontractor for the 70,000 seat stadium and incorporated a 500,000 square foot tensile roofing system made from 208 separate PTFE (polytetrafluoroeethylene, or Teflon®) fiberglass membrane panels. The roof’s pitch features a 1,100 foot long, 30 story arch that supports the 700 metric tons of cable net that make up the tensile roofing system.
“We’re grateful that IFAI has once again recognized Birdair for our tensile architecture work on Moses Mabhiba Stadium,” says Michele Roth, marketing manager for Birdair, Inc. “The stadium played a prominent role in the 2010 FIFA World Cup and we were honored to be part of a historic event.”
The winners were announced at the IFAI Expo Americas 2010, held October 27-29 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, FL. For more information on Birdair’s Outstanding Achievement Award, visit: http://www.ifaipublications.com/iaa/articles/310_mabhida.html.
Birdair is the proud recipient of multiple awards from the IFAI, including one for the Battery Park City Ferry Terminal in 2009. The IFAI is the only trade association in the world representing the entire specialty fabrics/technical textiles industry and serves 2,000 member companies.
For high-resolution photos of Moses Mabhiba Stadium, visit: http://www.larsonobrien.com/birdair/html/durban_stadium.html.
Download PDF Version: 2010-11-09_IFAI_Award_2010.pdf
About Birdair: Birdair, Inc. is the leading specialty contractor of custom tensile structures throughout the world. In addition to pre-construction services such as design assistance, budgeting, construction methodologies and project scheduling, Birdair provides design-build solutions in all aspects of project design, engineering, installation and maintenance. The company offers a selection of architectural fabric membranes, including PTFE fiberglass, ETFE film, PVC and Tensotherm™. Birdair, based in Buffalo, NY, is a member of the Taiyo Kogyo Group, with operations serving North and South America and other international locations. For more information about Birdair, like us on Facebook, call 1-800-622-2246 or visit www.birdair.com.