Air NZ Parking

New concepts brought to life.

COMPLETED	April 2015
LOCATION	Auckland
FABRIC AREA	210m²
FABRIC TYPE	Hiraoka 102T II PVC

The Shade Systems design team always love a good challenge! Sometimes this is to the dismay of the installation team! The canopy at the Auckland Airport over the Koru Parking area was one such occasion. However, it was also a prime example of how our installers can do practically anything thrown at them, and do it extremely well, too!

Air New Zealand approached us mid-2014 about the possibility of us providing a canopy over the Koru Parking area at the Auckland Airport. There were some discussions with the architect to confirm dimensions and requirements and a bit of debate with our engineer about what would and would not work. Finally, the concept landed on our designers’ desks. The final design was simple but effective. It has a minimum number of legs to allow more cars to use the space underneath.

Completed to the highest standard

The frame itself was complex. Kudos to the engineers, fabricators and our installers the recognition they deserve for doing such a fantastic job on such a complicated and at times awkward structure! The fabrication of the PVC canopy also offered up a good number of challenges. The shaped panels required precision welding along curves – something that is a lot more difficult than it sounds!

We delivered the whole canopy top (except the columns) to site, assembled it and tensioned the membrane in one night between the hours of 8pm and 6am. This ensured minimal disruption and inconvenience to Air New Zealand’s VIP customers. The install team all agree that this was rather a marathon, but also hugely rewarding!

Integrated into the canopy is a hidden storm-water management system. Minimal detailing has resulted in a clean, streamlined structure. Lighting has also been installed. The canopy makes for an impressive sight at night, with the light reflecting off the white PVC of the cover. It also proves that once the Shade Systems team commits to something, they see it through to the highest standard regardless of the difficulties we have to overcome on the way to completion!