Soul Surfers Paradise, Australia

Fabritecture

For this project we created a 600 square meter shade structure for Soul restaurant, plus a 40 square meter KFC structure. We constructed two tensile canopy structures as part of the $850 million beachfront Soul development project in Surfers Paradise. The multi-level PTFE membrane structures covering the outdoor dining areas were designed to follow the radial lines of the adjacent building and walkways and seamlessly integrate with the surrounding buildings. The tensile shade canopies utilize the full benefit of Soul’s alfresco dining areas, highlighting and capturing the ocean views and enhancing the beauty of the surrounding natural environment. The result is a striking architectural landmark within the Surfers Paradise area. Soul, Surfers Paradise beach, has ranked among the world’s most iconic beaches since 1920. Today, with its white sand, turquoise-blue ocean and sub-tropical climate, Surfers Paradise is still known as a haven for surfers, swimmers and vacationers alike. The Soul project aims to enhance the already striking location and turn it into the centerpiece of the Gold Coast, representative of the Australian lifestyle of sun, surf and sand mixed with glamour, fashion and fine dining. The project includes a redevelopment of the 200-meter stretch of foreshore and public boardwalk which has become home to designer boutiques as well as vibrant restaurants and cafes.

The purpose of installing the fabric shade canopies is to provide weather protection for restaurant patrons as well as creating a comfortable, ambient environment for visitors. The structures produce an architectural feature, drawing people to the new development. Our brief was to design, manufacture, supply and install two shade structures for the beachfront outdoor dining area. Key requirements of the client brief include: providing an all-weather protection for restaurant dining while maintaining ocean views from all levels of surrounding buildings, creating an architectural feature to attract attention to the area while remaining in context and harmony with surrounding buildings, materials and finishes to provide maximum corrosion resistance for a salt spray environment, materials and design to allow for minimal maintenance and cleaning and integration of services such as water collection and drainage, electrical and lighting.

The project had an extremely tight program of 12 weeks from contracting to completion thus necessitating meticulous project management and delivery. There were several other unique elements of the project. The six central masts were straight on one side and curved on the other, meaning that one side needed to be a cut down rolled RHS section resulting in complex steel fabrication. All of the steelwork was hot dip galvanized then painted with a three-coat paint system providing a 10 year warranty; an intense QA/QC program was put in place to ensure the paint supplier would warrant the final product. The canopies collect and deliver rain water into the columns and down through the footings into the storm water system. This required careful integration of the down pipes and drainage system within the footings. There was complete integration of light fittings and concealed wiring within the hollow steel sections, including special access panels for electrical hook-up and maintenance.

The structures are supported by six central masts that rise approximately 10 meters above ground level; the masts provide support for the cantilevered rafters on both sides that form the multilevel canopies. Each level of the canopy has a CHS ring beam to which the fabric is tensioned using exclusive extrusions. The fabric panels are tensioned into a slight barrel vault shape with site-welded PTFE weather flaps to provide a weather-tight seal between the panels. PTFE (Type II) was selected due to its high tensile strength, pollution resistant Teflon coating, 15-year warranty and anticipated design life of 25+ years. The structures are fit for purpose and provide a modern addition to the Surfers Paradise streetscape. The project was executed on time and the final result exceeded the client’s expectations.

Project details

Location: The Soul development can be found along the beachfront in Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia.
Size: 600 sq.m
Fabrics: Sheerfill II by Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics from Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics
Engineer: Alliance Design Group, David Greenup
Design: Fabritecture, Jethro Jones
Architect: BN Group, Greg James
Fabrication: TSI International (Fabric and Steelworks, Structural steel), Arch Perara and Colin Simpson
Subcontractor: Tranzblast (coating of steel), Noel Rookwood
Project Manager: Fabritecture, Greg Goldblatt
Installation: Ozrig Pty Ltd, Dean Peters