Club Med – The Village Roof

The resort site was dense and constrained, with seven concurrent packages and seven contractors operating in close proximity. Restricted access roads and tight turning radii made traditional long-bed steel delivery impossible. No heavy cranes could be deployed; erection relied on mobile cranes, a spider crane for confined interior lifts, and bespoke manual lifting rigs where necessary. The steelwork contractor coordinated deliveries to strictly defined dates and areas, ensuring continuous erection flows without on-site material accumulation. Stakeholder meetings were held weekly – and sometimes daily – to manage sequencing across all packages. Pre-cambering of trusses was incorporated at fabrication stage to compensate for anticipated deflections under dead load, enabling accurate erection without site adjustment. No site welding was required. The pre-cut, pre-drilled, and pre-galvanized nature of all members reduced site waste, minimised chemical exposure, and shortened the programme on a congested coastal site.

The primary structural challenge was the 11-metre entrance canopy cantilever. A hipped roof profile with minimal structural depth – mandated by the architectural eaves requirement – severely restricted the available depth for the structural system, making it acutely susceptible to deflection. Traditional knee bracing was geometrically precluded. The soffit carried a heavy timber ceiling, adding significant dead load at the tip of the cantilever. Wind uplift over the full service life in the coastal KwaZulu-Natal environment added further complexity. The solution deployed four primary 27-metre roof trusses extending deep into the lobby, using the building’s own mass as a counterweight tie-back system. A girder truss near the cantilever tip acted as a load distribution mechanism, sharing forces evenly across all four primary trusses. Diagonal bracing along both top and bottom chords transformed the system into a space-frame-like diaphragm capable of resisting lateral forces without sacrificing the thin profile. An early spatial redesign also allowed two additional central columns to be introduced, reducing the cantilever from an initial 13 metres to 11 metres, significantly lowering induced forces.