Tensile was engaged to design and construct fall protection for a new rooftop basketball court and a second-level breakout space at the Adelaide Botanic High School.
This is a school that has it all – close proximity to the Botanical Gardens and Adelaide’s innovation district, stunning architecture, contemporary technology-rich learning environments, visual connectivity, flexible spaces and much more.
Our installation also needed to be something special! This was certainly what we aimed for, and believe we achieved in the end.
About the school’s upgrade project
Designed by Cox Architecture and built by Lend Lease, the expansion provides new facilities and allows the school to accommodate an additional 700 students.
Cox Architecture says the school sets a new standard as South Australia’s first vertical school, blending cutting-edge design with an innovative approach to education.
The expansion adds more than 9,000sqm of new learning areas, and includes a network of learning communities that connect to each other and to the wider urban environment.
Our brief
It was important to us that our installation aligned with the design and the ethos of the school, so a high level of detail was incorporated into the project.
The rooftop basketball court is 6.5m high with a 38m x 18m perimeter. We were responsible for the entire structure of the court – the mesh, cables and supporting posts. We used 40mm x 2mm stainless steel Webnet, and 8-10mm Jakob wire-rope cables.
Webnet is an ideal material for sports courts. It requires fewer supporting posts than many other types of barrier material. This allows for clearer spans and greater use of the space without intrusive, chunky poles. In this project, it also allows for some fantastic views!
Sports court installations are often approached from the perspective that they are functional spaces only, and the finished results reflect that. But we believe visual appeal is also crucial. Having engineers, architects and builders in one team at Tensile means we can make structures like this function well and look great at the same time.
We have done numerous rooftop sports courts in schools over the years, and we are pleased with all of them. But we really think this one at Adelaide Botanic High might just be our best yet.
We also used the same materials as the sports court installation to provide fall protection for the balcony of the stunning breakout space on level two of the new facility. The balcony is visually beautiful and has an amazing feel.
In this installation, Webnet’s light and unobtrusive presence allows the building’s architectural design to shine through, and its transparency enables visual connection between spaces. At the same time, the material is able to meet strict requirements for fall protection.
We’re very happy to have been involved in the project, and we’re delighted with the outcome!
