Elektrum Olympic Sports Centre, Latvia

Fabric ducting solution created perfect conditions for hockey players and spectators

Background

Elektrum Olympic Sports Centre is a multifunctional sports center suitable for practice facilities and for organizing national and international competitions in basketball, volleyball, handball, football, track and field athletics, gymnastics, wrestling, and other sports. The center comprises six sports halls, a gym, and two fitness halls for various fitness and physiotherapy workouts.

Fabric

Combi 70

Suspension Type

Type 8 AiO

Total Air Flow

124.000 m³/h

Flow Models

NozzFlow™

The sports centre was awarded a possibility to host World Ice Hockey Championship in May and June 2021. Because of that, they had to transform the existing football field into a functional ice arena. The FabricAir duct system was selected as the best option because of its capabilities of providing an ideal air temperature for ice and maximum comfort for audiences.

Solution

The temporary ice hockey field in Latvia’s Olympic Sports Centre was equipped with two ducts of 417 meters. This custom solution consisted of two different air dispersion systems. One sent dry cooled air to the playing field, the other directed warmer air towards the audiences for superior comfort during the game.

The total air volume was 124,000 m³/h dispersed at extremely low velocities, which prevented uncomfortable drafts. The FabricAir ducts were manufactured from Combi 70 a permeable, flame-retardant, Oeko-Tex 100 certified fabric. The air is being distributed with the NozzFlow flow model, which is used in applications where very precise directional airflow is needed, like ice arena.

Results

After the installment of a new air distribution system, Elektrum Olympic Sports Centre was able to create the perfect ice conditions for the players and maintain the comfort of spectators, so they would not feel any uncomfortable drafts or temperature changes.

All the parties that participated in this project were extremely happy. The result was more than satisfying and everyone – from partners at K-Technologies (K-Tehnoloģijas), to Olympic Sports Centre, was very satisfied.

“I’m glad that people started to use fabric ducts for air distribution. FabricAir ducting solution gives an uncountable amount of benefits starting from system and solution flexibility, ending with an affordable design that could very easily fit in any interior. This was the best experience for everyone who was involved in this project”, says Aleksejs Bulanov, Senior Engineer at K-Technologies.

“We had an extremely short time to implement the project of transforming the football field to the ice hockey arena. This issue forced us to find a fast and high-quality solution, which FabricAir provided easily”, says Aleksandrs Bulatnikovs, Designer at SIA Ēku inženiertīklu projektēšanas birojs.

“We had to do an enormous reconstruction in a very short time and because of that, we chose FabricAir to support us in providing correct climate and perfect indoor air quality for 6000 visitors. Very simple and light-weighting solution allowed to facilitate the assembling in the existing sports hall without causing risks for the building“, says Pēteris Grundiņš, Technical Supervisor at Elektrum Olympic Sports Centre.