Covering cricket in eye-catching style

The five-cone tensile structure was installed in just 48 hours.

By Katherine Carlson

Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), owner of the 200–year–old Lords Cricket
Ground in London, England, is the world’s oldest cricket club, arbiter of the laws of cricket and keeper of historical artifacts from the sport’s storied past.

Lord Byron swung the bat in the first Harrow–versus–Eton match in 1805; His Royal
Highness the Duke of Edinburgh (Prince Philip, spouse of Queen Elizabeth II) served as MCC president in 1949; and MCC member Claire Taylor hit the highest score in a One Day International event at Lord’s (156 against India) in 2006.

Renovations over the years have kept the venue fresh, and the lively new canopy over the club’s Nursery Pavilion was a great addition to a long tradition. The eye-catching canopy is a five–cone tensile structure designed, manufactured and installed by Base Structures Ltd., Bristol, England, specialists in exterior and interior fabric architecture.

The brief was for a replacement canopy following the same roofline, in order to meet planning constraints. Base Structures suggested a one–piece canopy to replace the prior 18–piece cover. The single piece consists of more than 20,000 square feet of architectural PVC fabric.

Five cranes were deployed to install the huge canopy–in just 48 hours–over the Nursery Pavilion, a match–day hospitality and viewing space. “We understand the site constraints of working with high–profile sporting venues that need to balance the importance of attractive infrastructure for sponsors with minimal disruption to access and working around prime pitches,” says Mark Smith, head of projects at Base Structures.

For more details, visit Base Structures.

Katherine Carlson is a freelance writer and editor from Minneapolis, Minn.