Ronstan Tensile Architecture supplied the structural cables to secure a large canopy fabricated to provide shelter to shoppers at the Ryde Shopping Centre in Sydney, Australia.

A new supermarket was added to the first floor of the Ryde Shopping Centre with a new outdoor travellator connecting the supermarket to the carpark below. The client, Bevillesta Pty Ltd sought to install a canopy over the travellator to shelter pedestrians from the weather as well as create a bold sense of entry into the shopping centre.

Enveloping the travellator completely to create its own unique colourful environment, the canopy stretches between two large steel rings attached to the building facades. Coloured LED lights are projected onto the screen, creating a striking visual purposefully designed by the architect.

Serving as a tensile solution specialist, Ronstan Tensile Architecture assisted the architect, I2C with the concept design and recommended suitable support structures for the canopy.

The canopy is constructed from Hiraoka PVC coated PES and banded with high and regular translucency fabric that cuts across its regular warp seams. The canopy is externally enveloped in a double helix spiral of cables, intended to function as a trellis frame in the future.

Ronstan’s stainless steel catenary edge cables span the free edges of the canopy, which is clamped to the steelwork using rope track extrusions. Extrusions were conically rolled to match the clamp plates on the CHS steelwork rings. Cover flaps ensure a watertight edge at the building facades.

Ronstan project lead Paul Joseph said, “The most difficult part of the structure was that the canopy ties into the two adjoining buildings. An accurate site survey was required to obtain an accurate starting point for detailing. This included an extrapolation from the survey of the façade back to the structure behind the façade.”

The resulting travellator canopy was so successful in its design that it won the Award of Excellence at LSAA 2018 Design Awards - Cat 1 Small Structures.

Photo by Archishot