2026 Archive : Houdini

Project Details

Fabric 1

Atmosphere
Producer/Manufacturer: Shann NZ Ltd
Primary Use: Main Fabric

Please describe the project specifications

The client requested drop down blinds to enclose his new outdoor lourve roof area.

What is unique or complex about the project?

This was a project that was 12 months in planning and then all that planning didnt matter because everything pretty much changed and evoloved as we were doing the job. The original blind portals were very large (6.5m wide by 2.8m high) so we consulted with the owner and the builders at the time and it was agreed that we would split the front opening into four blinds. This then changed once the extra center posts had been welded into the steel frame and concreted into the ground as the owner had decided he wanted to have a large open span with no visible posts, tracks or blinds when the blinds were not in use. We consulted with the bulder on enlarging the end posts to accomdate a blind under 6m and to make the portal for the blind to sit in when they are retracted. When it came to installing the blinds the portal to hide them was very small due to the builder needing timber to fix their roof boards to, there were no tiles on the floor and the columns were only framing. we had to allow for the tiles with the height of our tracks, make sure our tracks were dead center of the timber columns and ensure that the blinds would roll away and retract above the soffit boards so that nothing showed when the blinds were up. We manged to do this using our own designed track guided blind which keeps everything inside the tracks (no external bottom bar guides or locks) the builders then clad the posts in cedar and finshed them with custom made scribers, making everything sleek and descrete. Custom made flashings to finish the small opening in the soffitt boards to keep that as minimal as possible. To add another layer of complexity we had decided to motorise them with the power points tucked in behind timber frmaing and around nocks and crannies even this wastn an easy thing to plug in.

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