AAMI Park

The Melbourne Rectangular Stadium now known as AAMI Park is an outdoor sports stadium on the location of Edwin Flack Field (Named after Edwin Flack – An Australian Athlete and Tennis player and also Australia’s first Olympian) in the Sports and Entertainment Precinct in the Melbourne City Centre. The stadium is perfect for all rectangular sports and is the home ground of Melbourne Victory and Melbourne City Football Club (A-League), Melbourne Storm Rugby League Club (NRL), Melbourne Rebels Super Rugby franchise and the Melbourne Rising Rugby Union team.

Early History of AAMI Park

The Olympic Park Stadium (A multipurpose outdoor stadium located on Olympic Boulevard in inner Melbourne) was the Melbourne’s main venue for Soccer, Rugby League and Rugby Union. It could hold 18,500 people, but with only 11,000 seated. It had been the home ground for the Melbourne Storm since they made their debut in the National Rugby League in 1988. 

In 2004, as part of Melbourne’s bid for a Super Rugby team, the Victorian Government prepared an economic impact study on the development of a world class rectangular stadium in Melbourne. But in late 2004, the bid lost out to the Western Australian consortium that became the Western Force (An Australian professional rugby union team based in Perth, Western Australia, currently competing in Super Rugby AU and Super Rugby Trans- Tasman.)

The A-League’s Melbourne Storm (Australian Professional Soccer Club) also used the Olympic Park Stadium from 2005 to 2007 when they switched permanently to the Docklands Stadium.

The Park was known as Melbourne Rectangular Stadium during the initial construction days and later it was named as AAMI Park on 16^th March, 2010, in an eight-year sponsorship deal with insurance firm AAMI.

Architectural Facts

In 2006, the Victorian Government announced that a US$190 million, 20,000 seat,  rectangular stadium would be built and would be the home to NRL team Melbourne Storm and A-League team Melbourne Victory. AAMI Park replaced the Olympic Park Stadium as Melbourne’s home of rectangular sports, with capacity for crowds of up to 30,050 which was later increased.

The Melbourne Rectangular Stadium construction began in late 2007 and was later inaugurated in May 2010 with a total construction cost of A$267.5 million. The stadium spans up to 55,480 square meter with field size of 136 m × 85 m (446 ft. × 279 ft.)

Materials Used

1. Suspended slab construction
   1. Hollow core for slab construction – Used for speed of construction
   2. Insitu concrete for slab, walls and columns – Selected on Contractor preference
2. Concrete seating tiers
   1. Precast plats – Used for construction and strength
   2. Steel structure for plat support – Selected for strength, visual appeal and speed of construction
3. Shell structure
   1. 273 diameter Circular Hollow Section (“CHS”) varying thickness grade 350 megapascals (“MPa”) – Used for Strength and visual appeal
   2. 500 diameter Circular Hollow Section (“CHS”) varying thickness grade 350 megapascals (“MPa”) – Used for Strength and visual appeal
4. Shell cladding
   1. ThyssenKrupp Pladur ® profiled metal sheeting with PVDF- Kynar 500 coating – Selected for Strength visual appeal and durability
   2. 16 millimeter laminated toughened glass –  Selected for Strength and visual appeal

Stakeholders

• Project Manager – Major Projects Victoria (“MPV”)
• Client – Sport and Recreation Victoria, Department of Planning and Community Development (“DPCD”)
• Operator – Melbourne and Olympic Parks Trust (“MOPT”)
• Stadium – Melbourne Storm, Melbourne Victory, Victorian Rugby Union, Australian Rugby Union
• Tenants – Tennis Victoria, Victorian Olympic Council, Olympic Park Sports Medicine Centre, Football Federation Victoria / Australia, Melbourne Football Club
• Architect – Cox Architects
• Constructor – Grocon
• Services Engineering – Norman Disney AND Young

Construction

The self-supporting roof frame that is structurally efficient was constructed from approximately 2,000 triangular panels (made up of a combination of glass, metal and rainwater collection facilities) produced off site and was later transported to on site. These 2,000 shells were made up of 20 individual domes (shells) in which all depend on each other for support. This complex installation required minimal tolerances (the minimum or maximum range of measurements of a product in X, Y, and Z dimensions) of less than one millimeter, which is incredible on a project of this scale.

This heavily constrained site required a significant effort in overall coordination and management of the project. The exterior is covered with thousands of LED lights that can be programmed to display a limitless variety of colors and patterns to suit the event taking place within.

Key Features

• 2,500 tonnes of steel used in the roof shell frames
• More than 26,000 square meter of cladding in the roof
• Nearly 40 km of custom built aluminum framework in the roof
• Around 16 km of roof guttering
• 35,000 cubic meters of concrete
• 4,000 tonnes of concrete reinforcing steel
• 1,200 workers employed on and off the site

Significance

The AAMI Park is located in Olympic Boulevard, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. AAMI Stadium highlights a particular cutting-edge bio-frame design with a geodesic arch roof which considerably covers the seating zone.

The main aim of the project was to provide a perfect seating bowl, with seats rising to maximize the preferred east and west sides with excellent sightlines.

The AAMI Park is one of Australia’s premier rectangular venues, notably acclaimed for hosting Melbourne’s most celebrated sport and entertainment events. 

The Stadium is home to a range of professional sporting teams, including Melbourne Victory & City (Football), Melbourne Storm (Rugby League) and Melbourne Rebels (Rugby Union). 

It also gives concertgoers a truly intimate experience, having hosted iconic acts such as the Foo Fighters, Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift, Bruce Springsteen, Queen and Adam Lambert and Elton John. 

The campus also incorporates an elite training center and team administrative headquarters as well as public bars, cafes, 24 corporate boxes, a dining room with capacity for 1000 people, a gym and lap pool.

Sports Events

Awards

1) AAMI Park is awarded as the World’s Most Iconic and Culturally Significant Stadium, World Stadium Congress 2012.

2) National Award for Public Architecture, AIA 2011

3) National Commercial Master Builder of the Year: Grocon Pty Ltd for AAMI Park, 2011

4) Excellence Award for Collaboration, LSAA Design Awards 2011

5) State Architecture Medal, AIA VIC, 2011

6) William Wardell Award for Public Architecture, AIA VIC 2011

7) Melbourne Prize Winner, AIA VIC 2011

8) COLORBOND® Award for Steel Architecture, AIA VIC 2011

9) Contribution to Profile Finalist, Melbourne Award 2011

10) Award for Sports and Leisure Structures, Institution of Structural Engineers 2010

11) Award of Excellence, IES VIC Lighting Design Awards 2010

12) Shortlisted for Civic Building of the Year, WAN Awards 2010

13) Architectural Steel Design Award, ASI National Steel Design Awards 2010

14) Architectural Steel Design Award – Large Project, ASI Steel Design Awards VIC and TAS 2010

15) Structural Engineering Steel Design Award, ASI National Steel Design Awards 2010

16) Structural Engineering Steel Design Award, ASI Steel Design Awards VIC & TAS 2010

17) Award for Best Building Site, Wallpaper*Design 2010

18) Winner of the Bentley Award for International Excellence in Parametric Modeling for Structures, 200