PROJECT MARGARET COURT ARENA Melbourne, Victoria Product Stratopanel Margaret Court Arena Photo by Peter Glenane/HiVis Pictures A Masterplan for sporting With the fastest operating retractable PROJECT SNAPSHOT roof in the world, having the ability . excellence to be fully closed within fi ve minutes, Market Sector In a city where sport forms a major the venue is certainly seen as setting Sporting part of the local culture, providing the standard in sporting venues. Date of completion world-class facilities is just par for the However, the other aspects of the course. upgrade are the silent partners in October 2014 providing a high quality venue that Major Projects Victoria has a Client can now be used beyond tennis, master plan for the Melbourne ensuring that the community gets Major Projects Victoria Park redevelopment to provide value out of having these facilities on an innovative multipurpose, Project Value the doorstep. internationally competitive sports $175 million venue for year-round use, starting One of the areas of focus for with the major upgrade of the the refurbishment was the public Architect Margaret Court Tennis Arena. concourse, which is a very large NH Architecture public space. With hard surfaces in partnership with The brief for this upgrade was to on the walls and fl oor, this space Populous create a new façade, a retractable has high reverberation, especially Product roof, a fully enclosed foyer and during times of major tennis matches Stratopanel concourse area, an increase in or concerts, with large crowds capacity by 1,500 from 6,000 to congregating at one time. This meant 7,500 and to improve the facilities that special attention needed to be for players as well as patrons. given to the ceiling to try and lessen “The fi nished venue has caused a the reverberation in this space. major buzz and a lot of discussion,” Mieke explained that they needed to says Mieke Vinju, Services create as much ceiling coverage as Coordinator at NH Architecture. possible for this area. “and it needed “Mainly because of the retractable to be covered with an acoustic roof and how quickly it can close, perforated material to provide a even beginning when play is still softening of the space” says Mieke. going.” May 2015 1 PROJECT Case Study Margaret Court Arena Photo by Peter Glenane/HiVis Pictures When Mieke was assessing the the edge of the sheet. Along with options for product specifi cation the access panels integrating into in this area, she determined that the design, this provided a seamless Stratopanel was the best option, fi nish. And as the board is also due to its high performance in noise thicker than others that are available, reduction combined with its aesthetic this resulted in a nicer fi nish.” quality that fi tted well with the Following discussions with the Knauf design. technical team who provided detailed “We met with the Knauf technical advice and guidance on how to and sales teams on site to get their apply the product to the fl oating advice about the product and how it ceilings in the area, the product was would work for the space. Because easily applied by the tradespeople of the elaborate nature of the ceiling with pleasing results. design a separate set of drawings The fi nished building is a new, state- was created for the plasterers.” of-the-art, multi-purpose sporting The drawings ensured that the facility that was offi cially handed panels were used as effi ciently as over to the client in October 2014, possibleand minimised the amount ready for its fi rst successful use at the of waste produced throughout the Australian Open in the summer of installation process. 2015. ”Getting advice from the Knauf team on how to utlise the product in this very tricky area was invaluable.” The decision to use Stratopanel was ForFor further further information information on on Knauf Knauf based equally on aesthetics as well productsproducts or or systems, systems, contact contact as performance. AUAU 1300 1300 724 724 505 505 “The perforations on Stratopanel or visit our website at are regular and go all the way to orknaufplasterboard.com.au visit our website at knaufplasterboard.com.au May 2015 2.