29th Street Mall – Featured Project

THE ORIGIN

Westcor Construction Company partnered with Four Seasons Awning to assist in the design, development, fabrication, and installation of a decorative shade structure for the exterior escalator that provides protection from the elements and harmful UV rays. D&R relied upon Four Season’s expertise to identify end-to-end custom solutions to meet the unique design, engineering, manufacturing, and onsite needs of this incredible outdoor shopping center.

THE CHALLENGE

The city of Boulder, as well as the project architect, required specific design criteria. The first major criteria presented to Four Seasons was the shade structure had to be freestanding with a width and length that spans well past the footprint of the escalators.

Secondly, the structural integrity of the canopy needed to be of the highest quality to withstand high wind and snow loads. Furthermore, this structure needed to provide adequate water drainage to protect electrical components and minimize slip hazards, and have minimal to no upkeep.

THE SOLUTION

The partnership of Westcor, Youngman Engineering, and Four Seasons Awning, resulted in a level of collaboration that allowed design, engineering, fabrication, and onsite personnel to develop a structure that met the unique requirements presented at 29th St. Mall. Since this structure had to span a significant width, distance, and elevation we started from the bottom and worked our way up.

Instead of a single structure, our team came up with three separate shade structures forming a cascading shade solution. This meant that each level would overlap the one below with a convex cover. This design ensured water and snow would be diverted to keep the floor clear of water, hail, and snow all year long.

One of the biggest hurdles during the design process was engineering the structure to be free-standing with heights spanning from 12’ to 30’ and a width of 57’, the weight of the frame needed to be as lite as possible and the support columns robust enough to provide unmatched structural integrity. During the collaboration process, the team came up with the perfect solution.

The canopy frames were fabricated out of 1” 6063-T6 extruded square aluminum tubing, which is lighter than steel tubing while still maintaining structural integrity. The frames were then mounted onto horizontal 4”x6” TS steel beams providing additional reinforcement. Due to the significant height of the structure 8”x8” HSS Steel Beams set in caissons were used for the vertical support columns.

THE PRODUCT

3 Custom Free-Standing Canopies
Cover Material – Ferrari Precontraint

THE RESULTS

Four Seasons is honored to have partnered with Westcor Construction Company and Youngman Engineering Firm on this unique project. Theis collaboration created the perfect shade solution patrons of the 29th Street Mall will enjoy for years to come.