Aramco Project

For a Saudi Aramco housing project in South Dhahran, TMSI supplied hypar (hyperbolic paraboloid) and sail shades in PVDF fabric, with a total area of more than 1,450 m².

Hypar and sail shades are tensioned between a small number of masts and fixing points; the twist in the fabric gives each panel its stiffness and its sculptural form, which makes them a common choice for residential communities, play areas and outdoor seating. PVDF-coated fabric combines long-term UV resistance with architectural flexibility, so the shades hold their shape and colour under sustained sun.

TMSI's in-house team works across design, engineering, manufacturing in the Dammam factory and installation of tensile shade structures. Every TMSI tensile design goes through form finding and finite element analysis, and the resulting load calculations set the size of the foundations and steelwork and the pre-stress of the fabric.