Photo opportunity 4pm, Tuesday 19 February, Dundee University Students' Association Balfour Street entrance
Tennis championships notorious rain breaks could soon be a thing of the past thanks to a design team at the University of Dundee.
Eleven students from the School of Architecture's Lightweight Structures Unit have spent the last week involved in a workshop with visiting students from the University of Munich to design and built a weatherproof tennis court canopy which would prevent play being interrupted by sudden downpours.
The Scottish and German teams have combined computer and physical modelling to design prototypes then full-scale working models of the canopy.
Their work will be put to the test on Tuesday February 19 when their canopy will be demonstrated at the University's tennis courts at Belmont Hall.
Working within the requirements of the Lawn Tennis Association and UK Athletics, the design objective of the project has been to create a light, deployable roof system for tennis courts and athletic field events.
Studies of existing canopies found that they could only be deployed from the ground using heavy lifting equipment. The students have been attempting to design a lighter, safer structure, which also has the benefit of taking up less space court or track-side when not in use.
Tutors Dr Fraser Smith and Mr Neil Burford - founders of the Lightweight Structures Unit - visited the Technical University of Munich, in May 1999, which lead to the idea for a programme of inter-university student workshops in innovative deployable structures.
Last month's student workshop was the second to take place at the University. In February 2000 students investigated the weight-bearing properties of the canopy structures. They compared their practical results with computer models developed in Munich. The teams spent 2001 developing a design study.
Neil Burford said, ''The workshop has been a great success and we're now working to make the canopy commercially viable."
Note for Editors
The Lightweight Structures Unit is an interdisciplinary research group
of engineers and architects involved in the design and application of
lightweight and temporary structures. The LSU has specialist
computational modeling software, specialist computer controlled membrane
plotting/cutting and extensive experimental small and large scale testing facilities and
workshops.