West Franklin Apartments
The newly constructed West Franklin Apartments in the Adelaide CBD occupy an enviable position to the South East of the City and forms the backbone of a newly planned urban village with contemporary accommodation, dramatic spaces, and luxury amenities. Designed with luxury living for the urban dweller, this development includes 274 stunning apartments with a gym, swimming pool, restaurant, podium sky garden and a roof top bar.
Being on the 22nd floor, the roof top bar affords enviable views of the cityscape towards the Adelaide Hills and is the perfect way to unwind after a hard day sharing a drink with friends or colleagues. Being so high up and with no natural cover, the outdoor bar terrace required additional shade to provide bar patrons with respite from the harsh sun during the warmer months.
The solution was to install 2 x RTS motorised Shaderunner® Retractable Sail Systems to extend the use of the outdoor bar terrace by providing variable shade on demand. By having twin retractable Shaderunner® systems, greater flexibility is provided for users of the space, with full or partial shading as and when required.
Most Shaderunners feature an easy to use manually operated endless cord system but, increasing in popularity is the option to have remote motorised control. The Shaderunners® at West Franklin Apartments are controlled by remote control with an Somfy RTS Motor for each system housed in a slimline powdercoated headbox. Further automation is provided with the wind sensor, designed to retract the Shaderunners® during higher winds.
The Shaderunner is manufactured from durable components, including marine grade 316 stainless steel fittings and Ronstan yachting ball bearing pulleys. As a result, the Shaderunner provides a robust retractable shade solution for a range of commercial and domestic applications. Using high quality components, most Shaderunner systems require only 2 x stainless steel running wires on which the Shaderunner fabric extends and retracts. Being up high on the 22nd floor, additional running wires were included for this application to provide extra strength and support. Further to this a series of weighted down tubes were added to each fabric panel, which serves to lessen wind action on the retracted Shaderunners under extreme wind events, reducing the occurrence of fabric wear in windier areas.
The Shaderunner® is manufactured from a range of rigorously tested fabrics which are as durable as they are stylish, being designed to withstand high traffic applications and the demands of the harsh Australian climate with ease. At the West Franklin Apartments, the Shaderunners were manufactured from Outlook 95% Polyester Mesh fabric in the colour ‘Graystone’, providing excellent shade and glare reduction with a contemporary look. The Shaderunner can also be manufactured from waterproof PVC for a weatherproof solution, requiring side fall to shed water.
With the addition of these the Shaderunner® Retractable Sail systems, this invaluable outdoor space now has the benefit of controllable shade on demand, providing thermal comfort to patrons of the bar and residents as and when required.
The Shaderunner® Retractable Sail System is ideally suited for a range of commercial and domestic applications from outdoor terraces, to alfresco dining areas and beer gardens, swimming pools and aquatic centres. With thousands of Shaderunner systems currently in use, this durable and dependable shade solution provides years of trouble-free shading with minimal maintenance.
