Customer Brief
Large numbers of passengers aboard the 150m passenger ferry that crosses the Gibraltar Straits were unprotected from the fierce sun and temperatures whilst on deck during the crossing. The owners wished to provide much needed screening for their customers during the crossing for their safety and comfort.
Concept
The concept needed to provide significant sun protection to the deck whilst maintaining visibility for the passengers. Given the nature of the moving vessel the awnings would have changeable forces of wind from a number of different directions. The structures needed to be highly stable as well ensuring UV protection and resilience.
How we did it
‘Form-finding’ software and precise proliner measurements of the ship allowed our designer to create CAD 3D model of the finished awnings. This software simulates different wind angles on the awnings to ensure we designed the strongest most stable structure possible for the project whilst meeting the brief. The simulation adjusts the form of the structures to create the shape that offers the most resistance to the forces of the wind. Without ‘form finding’ technology a structure will tend to be unstable, reverberate, flap and allow water to pool. The result is architecturally interesting structures with tension distributed across their entirety which is highly stable.
