The Curved Horizon
Where Structure Dissolves
Into Landscape
A large-span barrel vault cable edge tensile membrane structure, precision-engineered as a cafeteria extension for a premium museum facility — spanning approximately 8 meters from the existing building wall to the front column line.
The structure follows an L-shaped plan geometry, meticulously matched to the building profile and surrounding landscape — a design solution conceived and resolved entirely by MECANCO’s in-house design team.
The rear of the structure connects directly and seamlessly to the building wall, while the front is supported by slender, delicately detailed columns — minimal in presence yet precise in execution.
Every cable curvature and structural detail was carefully resolved within the architectural language of the project, creating a structural composition designed to visually dissolve into the landscape.
The membrane selected is a Type 2 PVDF Coated Tensile Membrane, delivering complete waterproofing and all-weather protection across the full span.
Where structure becomes landscape — a barrel vault that shelters without interrupting, and extends without imposing.
Application & Utility
Weather-Protected Dining,
Integrated With Landscape
Designed as a functional cafeteria extension for a museum facility, this barrel vault cable edge structure transforms an underutilised L-shaped outdoor margin space into a fully weather-protected, landscape-integrated dining extension.
The structure delivers complete waterproofing and all-weather protection across its entire span, meeting the full functional brief without compromising the architect’s exacting vision of minimalism and landscape harmony.
The result is an alfresco dining environment that feels open, natural and unhurried — where diners experience the surrounding landscape unobstructed, sheltered beneath a canopy that is present yet invisible, functional yet poetic.
The L-shaped configuration ensures the extension wraps the building corner seamlessly, maximising the utility of the available outdoor space while maintaining a continuous architectural language with the existing building.
Technical Specifications
Precision Engineered.
Architecturally Restrained.
Our Edge
Engineering Ambition.
Design Humility.
The brief for this project came with a rare duality — deliver an 8-meter barrel vault roofing extension that is fully structural, fully waterproof and fully functional, yet so visually restrained that it almost disappears into the landscape.
For most, this would be a contradiction. For MECANCO, it became a design challenge embraced with precision and creativity.
The L-shaped geometry — a complexity demanding careful resolution at every corner and junction — was not handed to us. It was identified, conceived and presented by our design team as the natural solution to the site condition, and the architects’ appreciation upon presentation was immediate.
Every connection detail — from the building wall at the rear, to the slender front columns, to the refined ground fixings — was engineered to perform at the highest structural level while remaining visually subservient to the landscape it inhabits.
The outcome was a structure that earned not only the approval of the architect, but also a formal appreciation certificate from the client — recognising one of the rarest outcomes in the industry: a project where engineering ambition and design humility arrived together, in equal measure.
Where Structure Dissolves
Into Landscape
The structure follows an L-shaped plan geometry, meticulously matched to the building profile and surrounding landscape — a design solution conceived and resolved entirely by MECANCO’s in-house design team.
The rear of the structure connects directly and seamlessly to the building wall, while the front is supported by slender, delicately detailed columns — minimal in presence yet precise in execution.
Every cable curvature and structural detail was carefully resolved within the architectural language of the project, creating a structural composition designed to visually dissolve into the landscape.
The membrane selected is a Type 2 PVDF Coated Tensile Membrane, delivering complete waterproofing and all-weather protection across the full span.
Where structure becomes landscape — a barrel vault that shelters without interrupting, and extends without imposing.
Weather-Protected Dining,
Integrated With Landscape
The structure delivers complete waterproofing and all-weather protection across its entire span, meeting the full functional brief without compromising the architect’s exacting vision of minimalism and landscape harmony.
The result is an alfresco dining environment that feels open, natural and unhurried — where diners experience the surrounding landscape unobstructed, sheltered beneath a canopy that is present yet invisible, functional yet poetic.
The L-shaped configuration ensures the extension wraps the building corner seamlessly, maximising the utility of the available outdoor space while maintaining a continuous architectural language with the existing building.
Precision Engineered.
Architecturally Restrained.
Engineering Ambition.
Design Humility.
For most, this would be a contradiction. For MECANCO, it became a design challenge embraced with precision and creativity.
The L-shaped geometry — a complexity demanding careful resolution at every corner and junction — was not handed to us. It was identified, conceived and presented by our design team as the natural solution to the site condition, and the architects’ appreciation upon presentation was immediate.
Every connection detail — from the building wall at the rear, to the slender front columns, to the refined ground fixings — was engineered to perform at the highest structural level while remaining visually subservient to the landscape it inhabits.
The outcome was a structure that earned not only the approval of the architect, but also a formal appreciation certificate from the client — recognising one of the rarest outcomes in the industry: a project where engineering ambition and design humility arrived together, in equal measure.