Cricket Academy Spectator Stand

The requirement for a spectator stand is unusually strict about one thing: nothing can interrupt the view of the field. That rules out columns anywhere in front of or within the seating, so the roof has to be carried entirely from the back. It also has to give real shade and rain protection — a stand is used for hours at a time, often in the hottest part of the day — and it has to handle the wind and monsoon loads of the Pune plateau.

Ekra Decor’s scope covered the structure end to end: survey and setting-out, the 3D structural and membrane design, fabrication of the galvanised steel frame and the fabric, and installation and tensioning on site.

The roof is designed as a cantilever. A line of raking steel frames stands behind the top of the stand, and the roof structure and membrane reach forward from there over the seating, so the front edge is completely free of support. The overhang and pitch are set to shade the seats through the main hours of play and to throw rain clear of the front row.

The membrane is form-found in 3D and pre-stressed into double curvature, which is what lets a light fabric roof resist the wind uplift that governs a cantilever — the fabric holds its shape instead of lifting or fluttering, and it drains to defined points at the back. The steelwork is designed to IS 800 and the structure is checked for wind, rain and seismic loading to the applicable Indian codes, with the rear foundations sized for the overturning and uplift that a cantilevered roof puts into the ground.

A translucent membrane also helps the spectators: it takes the hard edge off the daylight and reduces the silhouetting glare of a bright sky above the field.

The raking steel frames are cut, welded and hot-dip galvanised in the workshop, and the membrane is cut to pattern and high-frequency welded into panels off-site. On site the crew casts the rear foundations, erects and braces the frames, then runs the membrane forward over the cantilever and tensions it to its design stress.

The work is staged behind and above the seating, so it can largely proceed without disturbing the playing area, with crane lifts planned for gaps in the academy’s schedule.

The academy gained a spectator stand that is shaded and weatherproof but still has a clean, column-free view of the field from every seat. It is a low-maintenance structure — a periodic wash and an annual check of the cable tensions and connections.

Ekra Decor builds spectator stands, stadium roofs and auditorium canopies. See more finished work on the projects page, or read about tensile structures in Pune.