The roof of Guangzhou South Railway Station is actually soft

Guangzhou South Railway Station has a total investment of 13 billion yuan, a total steel consumption of 79,000 tons, about 1.7 times that of the National Stadium "Bird's Nest", and 1.5 million cubic meters of concrete. The design and construction of the station fully respect the pattern of Guangzhou's landscape city, so that the natural environment and the artificial environment are integrated. The huge glass dome is shaped like 6 banana leaves floating in the air, reflecting the artistic conception of Cantonese music "Backgammon".

The roof of the station building takes slices of banana leaves as the basic unit, and forms a very distinctive architectural form through the series of central lighting belts. The skylight adopts a reinforced steel structure with a diagonal grid, which is presented in the form of a vault and inlaid with ETFE air pillows, which allows natural light to shine into the waiting hall and reduces the absorption of external heat. About 2,000 square meters of solar panels are installed on the roof, which can convert solar energy into electricity to power the station.

The roof design of Guangzhou South Railway Station is unique. In addition to the traditional lighting glass, a polymer light-transmitting film is also used. Each membrane unit is equipped with an inflatable pipe, which can be replenished at any time when the air pressure is insufficient, so as to maintain a full and bulging state, form a transparent air pillow, and achieve a good lighting effect.

This air pillow membrane structure is also used in the "Water Cube" of the National Aquatics Center. The air pillow is composed of a high-strength flexible film material ETFE and a support system. The light transmittance is as high as 95%, which can reduce the daytime lighting intensity and time in the station, saving energy Lighting energy.

The ETFE film material has strong corrosion resistance, stable chemical properties under long-term sunlight and precipitation, and has a service life of 15-25 years. It can also form a unique shape, which is environmentally friendly, economical and beautiful. The area of the air pillow membrane on the roof of the station building is about 16,000 square meters, and the area of a single membrane unit is about 16 square meters. During the day, the soft and smooth air pillows are like white clouds under the sunlight.

The staff in the Guangzhou South High-speed Railway Building Workshop, who are responsible for the maintenance and repair of the Guangzhou South Railway Station, will regularly inspect the roof air pillow film. They use a combination of manual inspection and drone inspection to check whether the air pillows are well inflated and whether they are broken one by one, and then repair the inflation pipeline according to the situation, or use spare materials to repair the air pillow membrane.

The roof is an arched structure, the highest point is 52 meters from the ground, and the lowest point is 47 meters. They must be extra careful when walking on the slope during each maintenance. Due to the high roof topography, cold winters and hot summers, they also need to deal with the test of temperature in different seasons.

In addition to overhauling and maintaining air pillows, the tasks of the Guangzhou South High-speed Railway Building Workshop also include checking metal roof panels, lighting glass, cleaning foreign objects, and cleaning gutters.

Contributed by: People's Railway Newspaper Co., Ltd. Guangdong Reporter Station (Guangzhou Bureau Group Corporation Rong Media Center), Guangzhou Fangjian Apartment Duan Rong Media Studio

Text: Li Zhou, Guo Xin, He Tingzhao, Zheng Leying

Video: Li Zhou Guo Xin

Editor: Qi Meihua

This article is reproduced from the public account: China Railway