JOE DAWSON A locally built and globally unique piece of engineering will be open to public inspection this weekend when the completion of work on the Hastings Opera House is celebrated.
The final touch to the Opera House, the retractable roof, is now finished and its unique design will be a
highlight of the day.
The $500,000 roof can be opened and closed depending on the weather.
Designed in Wellington by architect Roger Shand and built by local contractors, the roof is a free-standing structure believed to be unlike anything else in the world.
Three seven-tonne trusses curve over the plaza, holding the canvas roof.
The roof project was managed by Glen Rees, of Patton Engineering, who said the technical challenges associated with such a structure were vast.
The key to surmounting the challenges was carefully planning every element before any work was started, and a good dose of lateral thinking.
He said while there were plenty of existing techniques for fabric roofs internationally, none existed for a roof that would so readily open or close.
"Both architect and engineers were in entirely new design and manufacturing territory," Mr Rees said.
Along with Patton Engineering, which did the technical drawings, LHTDesign provided the structural engineering, Best Forsyth provided the electrics and Hydraulink the hydraulics.
Napier company Piper and Co completed the canvas work. Hastings District Council arts marketing manager Sally Jackson said the public open day at the Hawke's Bay Opera House would be a performance bonanza, with theatrics in every corner of the building: "Free for everyone will be stilt walkers, bands, cultural groups, musicians of all types, marching girls, story tellers and face painters."
