Venue on the Green

The ‘Venue’ is a new youth centre in East Sussex for the Forest Row Council, and was completed during 2019. The main space is 10m x 10m on plan and is accommodated under an innovative timber hyperbolic paraboloid roof, with its timber ribs spanning in the short axis to assist the fabricator in defining the geometry on site and for additional structural stiffness.

The structure has two load paths, one through in-plane shell action due to the doubly curved shape of the roof, and one through bending in the ribs. This is a modern take on a classic timber hyperbolic shell, to be constructed using engineered timber products of Kerto and Glulam.

The load split between the two paths was analysed using finite element software to accurately predict stresses, movements and confirm the load paths.

Architect: Nicolas Pople