Portfolio of FabriTec Structures Projects

As FabriTec has grown and evolved, we have built a variety of tensile structures in the categories of Education and Institutional, Civic and Community, Airports and Transportation, Entertainment and Leisure Facilities, Stadium and Sport Facilities and Parks and Recreation and Miscellaneous. Below are 5 our best projects from these categories.

Airports and Transportation

MGM CityCenter

CityCenter, an unprecedented urban metropolis on the Las Vegas Strip with Gold LEED® certifications, is a joint venture between MGM MIRAGE and Infinity World Development Corporation, a subsidiary of Dubai World. It took 9,000 construction workers nearly four years to turn the 68-acre site into a metropolis. There is enough steel in the project to erect 10 Eiffel Towers and enough concrete to build a four-foot wide sidewalk stretching from Las Vegas to New York City and back again. Even by Vegas standards, the place is huge. With a price tag of $8.5 billion, CityCenter has become the largest privately-funded project in U.S. history. CityCenter is made up of six separate buildings. The centerpiece is the Aria Casino which features over 4,004 guest suites which are said to be some of the most technologically sophisticated rooms in the country - if not the world. The Veer Towers, Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas, Vdara Hotel & Spa, Harmon and Crystals Retail & Entertainment round out CityCenter. Along with being the biggest project on the Strip, CityCenter is one of the largest employers, having created approximately 12,000 new jobs in a city where the unemployment rate is close to 13 percent. With its focus on art, the center hosts works from some of the worlds most renowned sculpture artists.
Perhaps one of the most artistic pieces however is the custom tensile fabric structure from FabriTec Structures and Gensler Architects that forms the centerpiece of the light rail station terminal. Weaving between CityCenter’s buildings, rather than along the strip, and connecting to the Monte Carlo, Bellagio and Crystals Retail Center, the people mover was designed to facilitate the dynamic movement of residents and guests. The “floating cloud” PTFE fabric canopy has approximately 10,000 square feet in surface area and was designed with catenary edges and large compression ring openings penetrating the tilted truss masts. The truss in the center of the structure effectively creates 2 levels which allows for cross circulation and eases the air pressure beneath where the passengers load. Project Manager, Tim Sullivan, of Gensler Architects notes that, “the somewhat oval-shaped design of the fabric panels gives the structure a sense of motion.” The center truss and the steel posts that are at the base of the structure were designed to mimic the look of the APM guideway that the tram runs on. The client for the rail station, MGM Mirage, was looking for an attractive and affordable solution for their tram station needs and is pleased with the results. At night, when the canopy is lit, it creates a glowing effect that can be seen from the many hotel rooms above and gives MGM a unique focal point and another stand-out feature to a world class project.

Entertainment and Leisure

Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion

As a result of Hurricane Ike, the original Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion (built in 1990) experienced significant damage. FabriTec was brought in to replace and double the size of the existing pavilion which will now include a whopping 90,000 square feet of PTFE fabric. The challenge was that the work needed to be completed in 5 months in order to be ready for the start of the new concert season. This would typically require 12 months of work but because of our resources and experienced staff we are in the process of executing the unimaginable.

Athletic Facilities

BC Place

Located in the heart of one of the most beautiful, pristine, and active cities in the world, Vancouver, British Columbia, BC Place is a multipurpose stadium first completed in 1983 in preparation for the 1986 World's Fair. It is the world's largest air-supported domed stadium with a general seating capacity of 55,000 in its mixture of permanent and portable light-blue plastic seats. It was also built in part to attract a Major League Baseball team in the 80’s and 90’s, but no MLB expansion to Vancouver has occurred. It is the current home to the Canadian Football League’s BC Lions and received worldwide attention this past February as the official ceremonies venue for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. Owners and operators of the stadium, BC Pavilion Corporation (PavCo) eventually decided that a newly designed roof would give the stadium a fresh look. The current plan incorporates a completely new design and includes contributions from key players such as: Stantec Architecture, Geiger Engineers, Schlaich Bergermann and Partner LP, PCL Constructors Westcoast, Inc. and FabriTec Structures (USA SHADE/Shade Worldwide). FabriTec is providing the fixed fabric roof as well as the acoustic liner – fabric provided by St. Gobain. The stadium will also have an ETFE fabric façade and a retractable roof done by Hightex GmbH, a German fabric contractor in cooperation with FabriTec. The current new construction plan involves stripping all roof materials down to the existing concrete and utilizing a new cable supported PTFE fabric panel and center tension ring structure. In early May of 2010, the current roof will be deflated and structural work will begin.FabriTec will begin installation of the fabric panels around late February of 2011 with a goal of having that portion completed by July of 2011. There will be a total of 36 outer fabric panels and 36 liner panels. The panels are mechanically fastened to the cables net system with about 10 miles of aluminum clamping and fasteners. The fixed outer fabric roof has a surface area of 35,200 square meters (378,890 feet); the liner fabric has a surface area of 27,750 square meters (298,700 feet). The outer fabric membrane has tensile strengths exceeding 900 pounds per inch and yet weighs only 5 ounces per square foot. BC Place is the first cable-supported retractable roof structure being erected 100% from inside of the bowl; this is due to construction constraints on the outside of the stadium such as the newer highways constructed since it was first completed as well as the vicinity of the Terry Fox elevated plaza adjacent to the location. Events will take place during the latter months of 2011 with the official grand opening set for November, 2011.

Civic and Community Centers

Coppell Town Center

The Coppell Town Center Plaza is a place which celebrates the past and the future of the City of Coppell, Texas. The Town Center Plaza knits together the formerly unrelated public buildings on the site. These include the City Hall, the Police Courts Building, the Fire Station, and the adjacent YMCA and Elementary School. The Tower monument and Amphitheater are the centerpieces of the Plaza. The Tower monument has been designed to incorporate six divisions in its face, to represent the six decades of Coppells past. At the base of the Tower is a unique tensile structure provided by FabriTec Structures. Just as the Towers verticality is used to emphasize progress into the future, the shade structure is endowed with a dynamic horizontal emphasis which relates the Tower to the Amphitheater and City Hall, and produces a covered, outdoor room in which to gather and relax. It is a meeting place for visitors and City staff, and students from the adjacent school are invited to gather there for teaching and learning. This shaded outdoor room is intended to compliment the other natural outdoor rooms which are found throughout the park.

Education Centers and Institution

Mesa Arts Center

The Mesa Arts Sunshades are PTFE shade panels that run in multiple rows down the face of a glass building. The project is part of the Mesa Arts Center in Mesa, Arizona and features over 65 panels created specifically for the center. Each fabric panel has multiple articulating arms which assisted in the installation and tensioning of the fabric. The four foot wide panels were designed to decrease the amount of sunlight and therefore the amount of heat transmitted to the individual glass front offices. In addition to offering a reduction in room temperatures, the panels offer a unique and aesthetically appealing look to the new arts center. The project earned FabriTec an Outstanding Achievement Award in the 2005 International Achievement Awards (IAA) presented by the Industrial Fabrics Association International (IFAI).

Retail and Commercial

Del Amo Mall

FabriTec Structures sets the mood with this retro fit of one of Southern California’s largest malls, the Del Amo Fashion Center near Los Angeles. New building code regulations required that all escalators are to be covered and protected against inclement weather. The concept of multiple inverted umbrella shaped tension structures was approved to compliment and enhance one of the entrances and escalators of the mall. Uplighting and the impression of palm tree like profiles add to the flavor of a typical outdoor mall.

 

 

USA-SHADE

Shade Structures

Sun Ports

Vehicle Protection Systems