Roof Design Proposals with Ethylene Tetrafluoroethylene: Enclosing Princeton University Stadium with a Material of the Future

Abstract

Princeton University needs more indoor training space. Adding a roof to the existing Princeton Stadium would provide Princeton with the indoor training space it needs and would give Princeton a stadium that could be used under all weather conditions. After considering retractable, seasonal, and permanent roofs, I decide to design a permanent roof covering for the Princeton Stadium. The permanent covering will include a large, transparent section made of ETFE. A tough, plastic polymer, ETFE is an emerging material that is replacing glass because it is lightweight, translucent, eco-friendly, flexible, and cost-effective. ETFE roofs can incorporate multiple layers of foil in an inflatable cushion system or can be a single-skin system stretched into panels or supported by a cable net. In this thesis I include: my motivation for designing a roof for the Princeton Stadium, my inspirations for design, a chapter on ETFE, preliminary design proposals for the Princeton Stadium roof, and a comparison of the designs examined with respect to their efficiency, economy, and elegance.