Cantina design incorporates tensile structure

FTL Design Engineering Studio, New York, N.Y., United States | & H3 Hardy Collaboration Architecture, New York, N.Y., United States

The Santa Fe Opera Cantina, Santa Fe, N.M., is a new food service and outdoor dining facility for the Santa Fe Opera’s Ranch campus, serving breakfast and lunch for the Opera company and lecture dinners for the public on performance evenings. The new Cantina and tensile structure, which won an Award of Excellence in the tensile structures, under 6,000 sq. ft. category of the 2008 International Achievement Awards, was part of a master plan to replace and augment existing structures on the Santa Fe Opera’s Ranch campus that are inadequate for the Opera’s current rehearsal and support needs. The tensile structure design is integrated with the new Cantina building and supported on one side by special truss columns and building structure, and on the other side by post and cables, opening to eastern views of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The tensile structure also collects rainwater, which is stored in a 45,480 liter cistern and re-used for site irrigation.