The Moet & Chandon Marquee at the 2005 Melbourne Cup
Entered in the LSAA 2007 Design Awards (4001) Category Internal and Sculptures
Entrant: Taiyo Membrane Corp (MakMax)
Client: Moet & Chandon Australia Architect: Chris Bosse (PTW)
Structural Engineer: Xiang Du (TMC) Fabricator(s): Taiyo Membrane Corp
Application and Function:
The marquee was for Melbourne Cup 2005, Australia’s biggest annual horse racing event. It was created to transform a marquee to a striking, atmospheric event space inspired by the formation and structure of champagne bubbles of Moet & Chandon.
Design Brief
The client wanted to create striking, atmospheric event space to compliment their product.
Lycra fabric was chosen to realize the client’s and architect’s concept into actual event space using champagne formation as inspiration.
Structural System
A off the shelf “10x10” marquee frame was used as the structural shell for the Lycra fabric.
Bringing the structure into life presented difficulty but we overcame this by utilizing our form finding and patterning software to create this smooth, wrinkle-free finish.
Materials
Internal Skin - Nyron Lycra. External Skin - Ferrari 502.
Two different types of fabric were chosen to create a bubbling effect on the Lycra fabric with sun light coming through the clear PVC cut outs resembling the champagne bubbles.
Fabrication
The architectural concept was converted directly into a computer model using finite element analysis software. The structure was fabricated as a single skin membrane with no field joints.
Construction and Maintenance
Construction sequence - Erect Marquee, install external skins, install Lycra skin and tension Lycra by moving the top ring and bottom rings into design position.
