Tensile has designed and engineered shade structures for an inclusive play space at Five Dock in Sydney’s inner west.
The new Charles Heath Reserve Community and Play Space was commissioned by Canada Bay Council. The landscape architect for the project was Environmental Partnership NSW, and the builder B & K Revegetation.
The finished job demonstrates how even stainless steel structures created for practical reasons can be fun, colourful, artistic and complementary to the project design!
About the project
The Reserve comprises an all-abilities adventure playground, barbecues, seating, picnic tables and an amenities building.
The playground is its centrepiece, encompassing play towers, climbing structures, a cocoon space, soft fall surfaces, carousel, trampoline and nature play.
It was designed according to the NSW Government’s ‘Everyone Can Play’ principles, which cover a variety of human needs such as location, accessibility, safety and comfort.
Tensile’s brief
Our role was to design and engineer the shade structures over the play spaces. We took care of everything above ground – including the poles, cables, 2mm X100mm Jakob Webnet mesh with 6mm perimeter cables, and mesh ID plate attachments.
Webnet mesh is a grade 316 stainless steel that is well-suited to all kinds of outdoor projects. It’s made from a minimum 70% recycled content in facilities run on solar power, and is 100% recyclable after use.
It’s properties include a high strength-to-weight ratio, excellent corrosion-resistance and longevity – far more so than traditional shade fabric.
The flexibility of the material allows for extensive spans, complex shapes and design freedom. It can be very cost effective for projects, as less of it is required than traditional materials.
Webnet is also highly customisable, including by adding mesh ID plates – small decorative pieces of steel or aluminium that can be attached onto a Webnet screen in any formation. The plates can be customised in terms of size, shape, colour and finish.
For this job, the ID plates were finished in a mix of colours. We then arranged them to create mosaic floral patterns on the screens based upon local native vegetation.
A stunning finish
While Webnet is often designed to be as invisible as possible to allow other architectural elements to stand out, this project shows how Webnet can also sparkle and steal the show!
The plates enhance and complement the design, making the shade structures very distinctive. Not only do the shades with their floral displays look great, but they also create shadow patterns on the ground at different times of the day. They look pretty spectacular from above as well!
We are delighted with how this project turned out.
