Recent years have seen significant development along the south bank of Melbourne’s Yarra River.
The creation of Queens Bridge Square was the final stage in the extensive works, which join Southgate to the Crown Casino complex with a new public space for cultural events and community activities. The project also involved the rejuvenation of the historic Sandridge Bridge, providing pedestrian access from the CBD.
In keeping with Melbourne City Council’s theme of creating open and flexible public spaces, a catenary lighting system was the obvious choice. The commercial outdoor lighting system’s minimal light poles and the use of surrounding buildings and features to support the catenary lighting system, ensured a footprint of minimal impediment for the public’s enjoyment of the area.
Suspended luminaires illuminate key features of the space with pin point accuracy and provide essential security and ambience. The final catenary lighting system is similar to that which Ronstan Tensile Architecture executed at the renowned Federation Square. However, the proximity and detail of the supporting structure of this project dictated a lower cable height.
Ronstan Tensile Architecture was able to make use of the council’s own newly developed luminaire design. Cables within the system are grouped into sets of four. Each cable in a given set is attached to a central junction ring, which allows the cables to automatically align both radially and vertically.
All cables are 8mm (5/16″) ACS2 stainless steel structural cables with adjustment at one end. At each ring, a specially designed electrical junction box is suspended from the underside of the cable to allow power to be provided to all four cables from a single supply point.
The project was installed entirely at night to minimise disruption to pedestrian traffic by specialist partners High Access Cabling and Architectural Rigging Services. Continuous thoroughfare was maintained through the middle of the site.
As with all Ronstan Tensile Architecture projects, the tension and deflection on all cables was monitored to ensure compliance with stringent requirements of the structural engineers design. Considerations for stretch and temperature were calculated and allowed for in the design of the larger cables.