TD Place

TD Place at Lansdowne Park enhances the history and identity of Lansdowne Park and creates a powerful new image for the city. The stadium departs from the traditional notion of a stadium as an inert building and instead positions itself as event-based art in which people and built form intersect. This is achieved through a public space/park concourse that encircles the stadium, providing the public with opportunities to flow through the stadium structure while still in the park. This creates an entirely new paradigm for how modern, urban stadiums are designed and constructed. No longer must stadiums be confined with parking structures and paved roadways.

The stadium is strategically designed to provide 24,000 seats for its regular events and can temporarily expand to 45,000 seats for major national and international events. The venue is equipped with state-of-the-art scoreboards and fan amenities while offering stunning views of the park and nearby Rideau Canal. The revamped stadium has helped recharge the surrounding area, as it now offers numerous restaurants, clubs, shops and attractions.

The towering wooden veil that surrounds the new south stands of TD Place at Lansdowne, creates an iconic image for the new stadium complex, setting it apart as a unique legacy landmark and connecting it to the surrounding natural environment of the Rideau Canal.

Eric Sommer of Spring Valley translated the inspiration of architect Robert Claiborne into an intricate and precise lattice of timber and steel. The structure, which incorporates more than 12 kilometres (7.5 miles) of glue-laminated Alaskan Yellow Cedar contains more than 750,000 parts and is 154 metres wide by 25.5 metres high (505’ x 83’ 6”). 24 inverted L-shaped frames project vertically from the ground and bend more than 90° towards the field creating the structure’s complex curvature. More than 1,800 unique purlins extend between the primary supports. In addition to timber, the veil contains 350,000 pounds of steel and over 3,500 bolts.

Chosen for its durability and beauty as it ages, the glued-laminated Alaskan Yellow Cedar frames were shaped through complex bending processes to create the curved, contoured appearance of the veil. The structural engineering firms, Halsall and Partners and Moses Structural Engineers, considered the stability of structural systems in the development of connection details to enhance the appearance of the wood structure. To promote water shedding, all surfaces were sloped, connections were detailed to allow for drainage, and a structural system that allows for individual part replacement was developed.

TD Place at Lansdowne Park was recognized with a 2014 WoodWORKS! Wood Design Award for its innovative use of timber in the design and construction of the glulam veil that emerges from the surrounding stadium landscape. It was also the recipient of an Award of Merit at the 2015 Ottawa Urban Design Awards.