Megaroof: Rebuilding BC Place (2012)

For approximately the first quarter century of its life, BC Place Stadium in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, boasted the largest air supported dome in the world. The fabric roof was held up by sixteen fans, which, if there was ever a power failure, would cause the roof to deflate. During a windstorm on January 5, 2007, a large hole was ripped into the fabric roof. Beyond the immediate issue of repairing the roof, this incident led to authorities contemplating the future of aging BC Place: whether a similar roof should replace the existing, whether another roof design was in order for twenty-first century thinking, or whether a new facility should be built in its place. They decided on the middle option, wanting a retractable roof. The design conceived was revolutionary and never having done before: thirty-six masts erected on the perimeter of the concrete structure supporting the equivalent of eighteen suspension cables across the diameter, which would at its core balance a central node, onto which the new fabric retractable part of the roof would be housed. This design was predicated on everything being in balance, as if something was off kilter, it would throw off the entire equilibrium of the structure. As it was only so far realized in computer modeling, any glitch along the way could result in disaster. The eighteen month project is largely told from the perspective of three people: David Campbell, the designer, who had to oversee every aspect of the project to ensure it met his visions technically and aesthetically; Dan Bock, the project manager, whose job was increasingly difficult over time as it got more and more complex with the erection of each successive mast and each successive cable; and Brian Griffin, BC Place's Director of Operations, who could not afford any delay as he needed the facility open for two back-to-back events on the day promised.