CHEPSTOW, U.K. -- Blenheim Palace, home to the 11th Duke and Duchess of Marlborough, and the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill is one of the UK’s most famous World Heritage Sites.

Last year, Blenheim Palace opened a stunning new gift shop in their east courtyard. The modern glazed atrium roof, while light, bright and airy, has proved a challenge for the shop this summer because of intense direct sunlight.

Blenheim Palace approached Architen Landrell to design an interior shade solution to reduce the solar glare, while enhancing the aesthetics of the gift shop.

Solution:

After a site visit and Sun Path Analysis, our team considered the various fabric options and designs and recommended a fabric called Trapeze. This lightweight stretch polyester fabric can take many shapes and is perfect for ceilings, atriums and solar glare reduction.

Architen Landrell designed, manufactured and installed three bespoke 10m x 3m sails the width of the shop – directly under the glazed ceiling. Each sail is fixed to six different points – two on opposing walls and two to steel roof supports at different heights.

Part of the requirement was for the sails to be easily removed for cleaning & maintenance and for access to the shops hanging lights and utilities.

It’s all in the Detail:

The twin skinned fabric panels are sculptured in design with polyester ropes (used in sailing) inside the boundary edges. The ropes allow Architen Landrell’s Site Operatives to keep the panels under tension and can be adjusted if required.

Our design team created stylish bespoke polycarbonate white membrane plates which are affixed to the corner of the sails. Membrane plates lock the structure into place at the anchor points.

The high points of each sail were fitted with a unique pulley system. The polyester rope, used to keep the sails under tension, was fed through the pulley and tied off at a lower point. This will allow the Facilities Manager to quickly release and lower the sails for building maintenance. By pulling the nylon rope up, the sails move back into place. The Facilities Manager never has to access fixing points at the high points (6 meters up).

Challenge:

The gift shop has a series of hanging lights and cables from the glazed roof. Every cable and light had to be carefully considered for the patterning & design of the fabric and the installation of the sails. Because we could not remove the cables or lights, Architen Landrell’s Site Operatives had to work around them.

The large sails were lifted into position and then deployed to the six corners like a gigantic web. Once into place, meticulous coordination was required to position them and create the perfect shape with the exact amount of tension to each boundary edge.

Result:

The sails look beautiful both day and night. At night, they reflect light. During the day, they reduce the glare from the glazed roof and remarkably keep the space cooler. The white Trapeze fabric softens the space and looks excellent.

Blenheim Palace was more than pleased with the results and we appreciated the opportunity to install in such a prestigious and famous venue.