Rubb Scores On Design at St. Albans
One of the most impressive sports buildings to have been completed in the last few years is the new pavilion for Old Albanians, a long established rugby club that originally grew from the local St Albans School in Hertfordshire, England.
Rubb has played an important part in the building's design and today it is Europe's largest independent sports complex. Old Albanians is multi-functional from a sports point of view, providing six rugby pitches, two cricket pitches and four tennis courts.
The pavilion, designed by Fisher Associates, needed to provide adequate facilities for up to 12 changing rooms at any one time, as well as making social provisions for players and families during and after the matches. Old Albanians' Rugby Club also runs six senior sides plus a Colts team, and 300 children play mini rugby every Sunday morning.
The pavilion has been built on open farmland that is considered a visually sensitive location. This called for a building of unique, high architectural quality. Local residents and those from surrounding communities alike have expressed their pleasure at the sight of Rubb's "White Sails" across the balcony of the pavilion. The fabric used is a type II Acrylic coated PVC polyester membrane supported by galvanized steelwork. The rigging consists of 19 stainless steel ropes with chrome bronze terminals and Turnbuckles.
To achieve the desired conical forms, the design, manufacture and installation had to go through several stages. The initial stage established the system geometry based on the Architect's drawings. The system geometry produced a matrix of XYZ coordinates that became the basis of the "formfinding" exercise that resulted in a computer generated model showing the curvature and seam patterns.
Before the patterns were finally made, test data from the membrane material has to be inputted. This test data informed the patterning program of the stretch characteristics of the membrane when subjected to typical load cycles. This information was essential to determining the starting dimensions at the manufacturing stage prior to inducing tension at the installation stage. Once the fabric patterns were produced, and seam allowances determined, the membrane was cut on a cutter-plotter machine. It was then high-frequency welded and the finished one-piece membrane taken to the site for installation. The canopy was fixed into the gutter at its rear edge, via a specially designed extrusion, and at its leading edges using stainless steel catenary ropes. Tension was induced incrementally by activating screwjacks, that pushed the cones upwards.
Inquire now to learn how Rubb Tension Membrane Shelters can achieve your original architectural designs.
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