For this courtyard in a palace in Riyadh, we designed and built a retractable roof system using a series of alternating structural cables that shape the membrane, allowing rainwater to drain laterally while keeping the entire structure lightweight.
The uniqueness of this solution lies in its dual-mechanism operation: electric motors installed on the movable end trusses deploy the membrane and its cables along the roof, while an additional system of hydraulic pistons tensions the cables - and therefore the membrane - providing both structural resistance and its distinctive final shape.
