Exterior amphitheaters are a perfect use for non-corrosive aluminum as they are general exposed to the elements and the fact that aluminum will not rust, spall or corrode eliminates any life cycle costs or maintenance. CST worked with the DDA (Downtown Development Authority) and Rhett Roy Landscape Architects to develop this amphitheater in the center of downtown Fort Lauderdale.

With almost 1 year of creative assistance to the architect and engineers, the spaceframe hypar design is one of our first projects created on the Tekstar design program. The 75′ diameter hypar is 7 modules by 7 modules and is mounted on 4 support points. There is a total of 109 hubs and 400 struts with an average strut length of 9.15 feet (2.79 meters). The hypar is clad with 8028 white vinyl on polyester with a Tedlar top coating.

The edges are designed to be scalloped and the design features a roll-formed arch over the center in two directions. The site is a new first class feature in downtown Fort Lauderdale. A unique feature of this project is that the initial concept was a standard tension structure, and we developed a lower cost cable-free hypar spaceframe with the new program at one half the costs.

Client: City of Fort Lauderdale, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
Architect: Rhett Roy Landscape Architects, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
Contractor: Burkhardt Construction, Inc, West Palm Beach, Florida
Structural Engineers: DeRose & Slopey, Pompano Beach, Florida