In 2019 we designed and installed a 240 sq metre shade structure covering
the main playground at the new Basis International School in Bangkok.
This structure was supported by large free-standing steel columns attached
to piled footings 18 metres deep.
Original installed shade structure
The school has now added additional equipment to the playground and requested
we provide a solution to extend the shade coverage to ensure that kids could avoid
direct sun exposure, particularly in the mornings. Part of our design brief was to avoid
the use of back-stays in traffic areas including the playground itself and adjacent
pathways.
Our design was based on a careful study of shade patterns for the critical times when
the playground would be used, and included one additional large free-standing column,
again mounted on deep piles into Bangkok’s notoriously unstable soil, and additional
back-stay supported columns located out of the way in an adjacent garden, with back-stays
anchored onto an existing reinforced concrete retaining wall.
Our design-stage rendered image of the proposed design (above)
Photographs of the finished product (below)
The new sail, 136 sq metres, used the same Monotec HDPE shade cloth, and was attached
in two places along one edge of the existing sail with specially designed plates, and tensioned to some of the existing columns as well as the new ones.