This is where world champions are made The world’s best meet in the new Stade de stadium

Whoever travels in the evening by the shuttle bus, into the centre of the French metropolis, wipes their eyes in amazement. On the right hand side in the darkness of the suburb of St Denis, what seems to be a giant saucer rises up into the air. Something even had not fantasised! Pointed antennae poke out of the metal surface illuminated in colour. When one approaches a little nearer, the traveller realises that the structure is a stadium, and the antennae are really eighteen , each sixty metres high. They support the giant, almost ellipsoid roof of the to protect 80,000 to 100,000 spectators from rain, snow, sunshine and wind - some 25 metres before the entrances to the stadium.

Football is the most football match or concert greater distance the overall popular game in the world. (such as the Rolling Stones effect of the construction, It was that round ball, which concert set for the 25th July with its thin roof plate rising binds the people of the 1998) the lower section of above the blocks of flats and world (of whom more than the stand can be slid back by fly-overs standing in front of two billion will be watching 15 metres, exposing the race it, is that it is floating gently. on TV when the final of the track and sand pits for field And with its pastel colours, world championship is and track athletics. In this it blends in with the high PHOTO: B. ANNEBICQUE-SYGMA contested on the 12th July), way the spectators are grey/blue skies over the Isle that gave the impetus to the always as near as possible de France. building of the Stade de to the events taking place. France. The first match in the finals for the world Flying saucer championship takes place The nickname ‘Flying here in St Denis on the 10th Saucer’, given to it by the June between Brazil and neighbours, is accurate Scotland, followed by four when the building is viewed further matches to decide from the ground. From a the group winners, the quarter finals, the semi- finals and then the final. The arena lies seven metres Below: The lower stand rows The roof of the Stade de France below the former ground level. Moveable stands are movable. They uncover stadium alone weighs Jaques Brottier of ‘CIE Construc- The Stade de France has racetracks and sand pits for 14 000 tons - almost as much as tion‘ built a network of fixed also been designed for track and field athletic events. two Towers. points on concrete posts, rugby matches, Olympic An audience of more than measured with Leica total athletics and large scale 100 000 can be accommodated stations and Leica GPS systems. concerts. Thus, following a for concerts. PHOTO: D. QUENTIN/STUDIO TRONCA

3 PHOTO: CAILLEUX&FOUCHE

However, the impression is Above: The load-bearing Below: Bruno Fouché used the quite different when viewed elements for the 61 000 square Leica DISTO to determine the from the air. The massive metre roof surface were lengths of the anchoring cables. 61 000 square metre roof directed into position and A Leica TC1600 tacheometer surface is France’s largest surveyed by the firm Cailleux- was used to determine that the suspended roof. It has been Fouché. towers and the roof structures designed to withstand a were vertical. wind speed of up to 150 km per hour, and a layer of PHOTO: B. ANNEBICQUE-SYGMA snow several metres thick. The roof alone weighs Claude Costantini. The 14000 tonnes, which is Stade de France was partly nearly twice the weight of financed by the French the Eiffel . State, but mainly by a This integration of aesthetic private consortium of equal lightness and the enormous partners. Namely, Boygues, protective rôle has been GIE Dumez-GTM-98 and successfully achieved by Campenon Bernard-SGE. the GIE stadium project, The same consortium is and the architects Michel also in charge of its Macaray, Aymeric Zublena, construction and operation. Michel Regembal and Surveying at dizzy heights According to Bruno Fouché, Below: Surveyor C. Geneste of partner in the firm of Cailleux-Fouché was on the surveyors Messrs Cailleux- construction site with two Fouché S.A., no special 1 colleagues for 1 ⁄2 years. problems arose in connection with the surveying. That is, of course, with the exception of the ‘balancing act’ on the steel girders at a height of 50 metres above the ground, the enormous dimensions of the objects PHOTO: CAILLEUX&FOUCHE PHOTO: CAILLEUX&FOUCHE and the speed with which the Stade de France had to be built. Moreover, for eighteen months from his firm alone, three surveyors were practically permanently present on the The highest points of the giant construction site. 18 towers are Leica reflector prisms for automatic control Exemplary teamwork measurements. At the very top thanks to a common target C. Geneste took a photograph of As Bruno Fouché said: himself, there being no more ‘Such a long time spent on room for a photographer! a building site is unusual. This formed and first-rate and the whole total station, the NA2000 strengthened the relation- organisation worked digital level, and the DISTO ship with colleagues from excellently.’ hand-held laser meter. the other areas of interest To tackle the set tasks, the Using the latter instrument, during the construction surveying teams from the lengths of the 144, and work. The teamwork with Caillieux-Fouché principally up to 40 metre long support all partners was really employed the Leica TC1600 cables running from the 4 PHOTO: PHILIPPE GUIGNARD PHOTO: PHILIPPE GUIGNARD

Top: Here in the Stade de France in St. Denis near Paris the final match of the World Cup championship takes place on 12th July 1998.

Left: The large construction site in June 1996.

pinnacles of the towers For a comparison we also down to their anchorages checked the network with was ascertained. This was Leica GPS Systems 200. achieved after completion We found an excellent of the roof, to the millimetre uniformity with a maximum Below: Inauguration match exactly. of three millimetre France v. Spain in the Stade de deviation between two France following the official The stadium foundation points’. This work was opening at the end of January also rests on Leica checked and confirmed by 1998. measurements independent surveyors Leica instruments not only (the firm of Messrs Daniel dominated the lofty heights Legrand). during the construction of the ‘Flying Saucer’. They Verification measurements were involved a long time by independent experts beforehand in the St Denis For the test measurements valley, during the surveying of the eight main point activities for the original X/Y co-ordinates aligned on measurements and the the Lambert system, as PHOTO: D. QUENTIN/STUDIO TRONCA various preliminary works well as for measuring a carried out for CIE Stade progression on the ground Construction. for determining Jacques Brottier, Director of inclinations, angles and the topographical service distances, the firm of said: ‘After the work of surveying expert Daniel laying out, I arranged for the Legrand employed not only measuring of the arena. the Leica GPS Systems 200 It was to be created on the but also the Wild T2000 land seven metres below theodolite with a Wild ground level, and in close DI2000 distance meter. To More than 30 000 points With five two-man teams proximity the erection of determine the exact height marked the topographical service concrete piers with fixed of these eight fixed points Finally, during the construc- alone placed about 30 000 point markers. The arena to the hundredth part of a tion work the fixed points marking poles, sticks and was to be measured as millimetre, the Wild NA2 were packed and transferred bolts, not counting the precisely as possible by automatic universal level into the concrete of the floor markings made with a pin traditional methods with a with a GPM3 parallel plate area. As Jacques Brottier and a tube of paint. Leica TC1700 total station. micrometer was brought in. said: ‘The main difficulty here was to retain the fixed Speed and precision points, or to replace them at We wish the football teams any time without losing their from the 32 nations who accuracy whilst the hectic have qualified for the World building work was in Cup Championship Finals progress. It was just at this 1998 this degree of stage that our teams were precision as well. In sport mainly occupied with the too, as in the field of construction, and that meant surveying, the quickest,

PHOTO: B. ANNEBICQUE-SYGMA measuring, measuring and most precise and best measuring again.’ disciplined team will win. More than two billion spectators and viewers will follow the players. Left: A position for boarding is However, it was the determined exactly with a Leica surveyors who helped the theodolite mounted with a DI1000. builders create this splendid © Le Stade de France: Regembal Michel, arena. Costantini Claude, Macary Michel, Zublena Aymeric Nicolas. Fritz Staudacher ProLitteris, 1998, 8033 Zürich. 5