Art Gallery Tensile Fabric Roof

• The sails are designed to align with the vines to seemlessly integrate the canopy into the landscape
• Fabricated from TX30 PVC polyester which offers over 30 years lifespan

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Nestled in the landscape of a vineyard in Provence is an Art Pavilion, home to a uniquely special tensile fabric roof.

Part of the Chateau La Coste architectural collection, the pavilion was designed by Renzo Piano to complement and contrast with to the gentle rolling hills of the surrounding vineyards. The building itself is a concrete and glass construction submerged within the ground; only the fabric membrane canopy can be seen, hovering gracefully above the pavilion. As Renzo Piano describes it

the sail flies and lands, emphasizing all at once the lightness and horizontalness of the building

The canopy is formed with a PVC polyester membrane, tensioned over steel arches and cable valleys to create 10 lightweight sails above the glass roof of the gallery. No regular PVC polyester, the material used is Serge Ferrari’s TX30; a polyester base with an advanced PVC coating which is highly durable, low maintenance and in a sleek matt finish.

Renzo Piano himself worked closely with the Architen team to realise his vision. Using both a traditional design workshop approach and hand sketching of details, and combining this with state of the art 3D printing technology allowed us to develop beautiful details at every junction of the structure. The rainwater deflectors embody this attention to detail; based on the form of a Swallow, the team developed a GRP feature to channel rainwater away from the structure and avoid any splashing whilst still remaining beautiful.

Installed in the spring to ensure the pavilion was ready for its grand opening at the start of the summer, the weather was unusually wet and mud was a constant problem. Keeping the membrane free from dirt was a priority and meant that a delicate touch was extremely important.

The pavilion opened in May 2017 to much acclaim and we are extremely proud of our contribution to the scheme.

Architect: Renzo Piano

Construction Management: Rainey & Best

Engineering: Tony Hogg Design