The Tensile team designed, supplied and installed metal mesh screens across the facade of the award-winning Eva and Marc Besen Centre in Victoria.
The mesh screens act as a kind of sheer veil, protect the building from sunlight while still allowing for views of the surrounding buildings and landscapes.
About the centre
Designed by Kerstin Thompson Architects and built by McCorkell Constructions, the centre is located within the TarraWarra Estate at Yarra Glen. It gets its name from Eva and Marc Besen – former philanthropists, business owners and TarraWarra founders.
The building acts as a cultural hub at the winery, comprising a gallery, learning centre and performance space. From within its walls the public can view over 300 pieces of art donated by the Besens. Visitors can also enjoy talks and forums, and participate in educational workshops and programs.
The building has a very unique and contemporary look and feel. It sits within the hillside, and has a curved structure that mirrors that of the adjacent art museum.
Our brief
To create the screens, we used a woven tensioned mesh from GKD Group, a German industrial mesh company. The mesh, which is made from Grade 316 stainless steel, was manufactured and brought to site for installation.
We undertook the design and engineering of all the supporting elements for the screens, working to tolerances of +/- 1-2mm.
While GKD mesh is a beautiful material to work with, there were certainly some challenges with the installation.
Tight tolerances are not easy on a project of this scale – such a fine manufactured material doesn’t tend to cooperate well with concrete footings sunk into dirt!
The screens also weigh around 120kg each. This made each installation challenging, as the surrounding mature trees had to be protected.
But at Tensile we are used to all kinds of challenges, and we persist until we find a solution and fulfil the brief. This was certainly the case in this project, and we are proud of having overcome the obstacles and completed the screens – which have the look of light ethereal veils. You’d never guess from looking at them that there were any difficulties along the way!
The centre has won numerous architectural and building awards since its completion.
- AIA Victorian Chapter Awards, The William Wardell Award, Named Award for Public Architecture
- AIA Victorian Chapter Awards, Interior Architecture
- AIA Victorian Chapter Awards, Regional Architecture shortlist
- Architizer A+Awards, Gallery and Exhibition Spaces finalist
- Awards, The Building shortlist
The completed centre is pretty amazing, so the accolades come as no surprise to us!
