Optus Stadium

Country: Australia

1 Jan

The Westadium consortium was appointed by the Government of Western Australia to design, build, partially finance and maintain the new 60,000 seat Optus Stadium and Sports Precinct.

Optus Stadium is a world-class multi-purpose venue, using an innovative 'fans first' design. The $1.6Bn multi-purpose venue has been designed to accommodate a wide range of uses including AFL, cricket, rectangular field sports (rugby, soccer), athletics, and entertainment events. The impressive 60,000 seats places the stadium in Australia’s top three venues for audience capacity.

For more information on the Optus Stadium, visit the website here.

CLIENT

Brookfield Multiplex

LOCATION

Perth

COMPLETED

2018

AWARDS

WA AIA Awards 2018 - George Temple Poole Award
WA AIA Awards 2018 - The Jeffery Howlett Award for Public Architecture
Master Builders Bankwest Excellence in Construction Awards - 2018 Bankwest Best Project + 3 other awards
The Stadium Business Awards 2018 (International) - Project of the Year

Our Scope

Marshall Day was successfully appointed by managing contractor Multiplex as the consortium's acoustic, sound system and AV/broadcast cabling consultant. The team worked on the project from concept through to its completion, in early 2018.
Optus Stadium features roof coverage of more than 85 per cent of seats, a bronze facade that reflects WA's unique geology, LED lights that can display home sports team colours, and a wide range of 'fan first' facilities, including two of the largest video screens in the country and 4G Wi-Fi coverage for spectators.

Marshall Day Acoustics worked collaboratively with Westadium to provide advice on bowl acoustics, environmental noise, room acoustics and mechanical and services noise.
Marshall Day Entertech provided reference design services for the broadcast cabling infrastructure services, AV systems design review and the main sound system during the design stages of the project. The sound system design incorporated the main bowl, public concourses and external public circulation spaces (including entry gates). Numerous individual coverage zones were identified throughout the building to enable the Stadium control room to address one or many zones. The reference design was then passed on to the D&C contractor who worked in conjunction with equipment distributors and loudspeaker manufacturers to finalise the design and deliver the installed systems.

CHALLENGES

Large-scale asymmetry

The sheer scale of the project and the non-symmetrical nature of the stadium building presented a challenge for the Marshall Day team. The oval-shaped stadium building has offset floor plates, with each floor typically providing different functional spaces. This arrangement results in many overlapping spaces, each with different airborne and impact sound insulation requirements and different building services layouts. For the acoustic designer, this requires understanding the building in great detail to ensure that the specific acoustic issues in each unique space (there were well over 1,000 of them!) are identified and addressed in the design.

Our team made extensive use of 3D modelling tools, detailed room design databases, mock-up testing, and regular site inspections to track and optimise the design on this fast-moving project.

Noise sensitive spaces + concrete + heavy traffic

The nature of a stadium building means that many noise-sensitive spaces are located in areas below concrete surfaces such as concourses and seating plats, which are often heavily trafficked. MDA worked closely with the builder and architectural team to develop and test cost-effect ceiling designs with integrated acoustic treatment to satisfy the demanding footfall impact noise and room reverberation requirements.

Adding value to the design outcome

The acoustic design specifications for the project were set to a very high standard. The interpretation and application of the acoustic specifications was an opportunity for MDAto provide added value to the project by utilising our knowledge and experience of stadium projects. MDA worked with the project team to carefully apply and refine the acoustic requirements, taking into account the context of the final stadium layouts and the site-specific functional requirements of the spaces. This ultimately meant a better value for money outcome for the project, without compromising the quality of this world-class venue.

"Marshall Day Acoustics worked collaboratively with our design team to provide cost-effective and innovative solutions to address the demanding acoustic requirements of the project. Their experience and hard work provided real value to the project.”

Paul Muggeridge Design Manager (New Perth Stadium), Multiplex Australasia