Parking Juncal

Description

Background Information:
Before, there was an open parking without a roof. A special commission of the city asked for an architectonic proposal, maintaining the use of the parking.

Objectives of the roof:
- A special design to provide a distinctive design quality and good insertion in the city
- Rain and sun protection, so the space can be used as a comfortable parking all the year
- Allowing entrance of natural light, at least 7%, so the area is not darkened
- Eliminating direct solar radiation, to prevent overheating
- Easy installation

Description:
The covering is made of a PVC-coated polyester membrane, tensioned on a supporting steel structure. The tri-articulated frames in reticulated steel round pipe are made with different radius of curvature. They are placed every 4.62m and span 20m.
With the generation of high and low points in the perimeter, it was possible to direct and concentrate rainwater to eight points thus avoiding the use of gutters and solving the water drainage by means of small buckets that are then connected to the main drainage system.
It is a low-cost solution, of quick assembly.
The objectives of the project were fulfilled: obtaining a very pleasant space for parking.

Reasons for choosing a prestressed PVC-coated polyester membrane:
It complies with all the objectives, and when compared to other traditional systems such as glass, plastic, metal or concrete construction, these traditional systems do not meet all the requirements. Furthermore, some of them add new problems, such as increasing internal heat and blocking the light completely.

Design:
The roof shape is obtained by alternating two families of frames, which generate high and low positions. These allow to obtain the curvature in the membrane, and also the pluvial water is drained to a very few well determined points.

Prestressing:
The tension in the membranes is obtained by a cord, which tensions the canvas to the structure.

Building process:
After installing and anchoring the structure, the membranes were assembled in two days.

Materials:
The structure is made of 9 frames of reticulated 2,5” and 2” steel tubes. The membranes are made of threaded polyester PES HT 1100dtex, 5x5 threads per cm (12 threads per inch) with PVC coating, UV protection on the outside, a weight of 800gr/m2 (230oz/sqyd) and a breaking load limit of 30daN/cm (167lbs/inch).

Description of the environmental conditions