All You Need to Know About the US Open 2019 Roof

The US Open 2019 has been an important addition to the event in recent years. The United States Tennis Association had installed a retractable roof on the Arther Ashe Stadium in 2016. After the success of the retractable roof on the Arther Ashe Stadium, the association re-constructed the Louis Armstrong Stadium, last year with a retractable roof.

The building of the US Open retractable roof began in 2013. There was no roof over the stands during the event in the following year. During the 2015 US Open, the fixed parts of the new construction were visible. The US Open retractable roof was finally completed and was unveiled in August 2016.

However, the U.S. Open planned to use the roof only for rain, unlike the Australian Open, which also does so in cases of extreme heat. “We want this to be an outdoor tournament; we want to keep the roof open if at all possible,” the director of the USTA said earlier.

While at the same time when the US Open unveiled its retractable roof in 2016, USTA also announced that Louis Armstrong Stadium, the second-biggest facility at the Flushing Meadows was torn down. For the 2017 Open, a temporary stadium with a capacity of 8,500 was erected in the parking lot adjacent to the old Grandstand. The construction of the roof was completed on time, last year.

The US Open 2019 roof on the Arthur Ashe Stadium takes only 5 minutes and 21 seconds close – the time it takes for two 38,000-square-foot panels on opposite sides to slide into place. The delay is about 15 minutes if it closes before the rain starts.

The US Open roof on the Arthur Ashe Stadium and Louis Armstrong Stadium was designed by Rossetti Architects and it’s structure engineered by WSP Global. The roof has two 800-ton fabric panels made of 210,000 square feet (20,000 m) of lightweight PTFE Membrane.

The stadium is not fully conditioned, however, a chilled water ventilation system controls humidity inside the stadium when the roof is closed.

The US Open roof is supported by eight columns that sit on concrete bases, each supported by 20 piles driven 150 to 200 feet deep. The retractable roof weighs 6,500 tons. The roof is 124 feet high. When fully deployed, the roof covers an area of 72,000 square feet.

While the retractable roof on the Louis Armstrong Stadium is the largest of its kind among the No. 2 stadiums at the Grand Slams.

The total cost of the US Open roof is estimated to be around $150 millions as disclosed by the USTA.

While the revamp of the Louis Armstrong Stadium had cost $600 million to the USTA.

The closed roof at the Arthur Ashe Stadium is roughly the size of 17 Olympic swimming pools. It can be deployed and still be operated in a thunderstorm with wind conditions up to 31 mph wind.