Rainbows End In Auckland

ColorCote® Steel roofing is often a practical choice but Rainbow’s End wanted to add a fun dimension when it came to providing cover for its Kidz Kingdom precinct.

With that in mind, the Manukau-based theme park wanted a curved, multicoloured canopy that would not only keep the area protected from the elements but also provide a ‘rainbow‘ overhead for children and parents in the Kidz Kingdom rides and playground area, which is aimed at smaller children.

Dimond’s Styleline profile was selected for the 42m drape curve roof, and there was also extensive work carried out on the adjoining building with close to 1400LM of Dimond Zincalume® product used to upgrade the existing facilities.

Rainbow’s End wanted the roof to allow visitors to enjoy the area no matter what the weather was doing and also wanted it to feature stripes of bright, vivid colours in line with the park’s colour scheme. Pacific Coilcoaters (A part of the Fletcher group) supplied strong primary colours in their ColorCote® ZR8™ range, pre-painting them doublesided as part of the requirements for the project so that the colour scheme would not only be visible from below to brighten the play area but also make a permanent mark on the local landscape. As part of the cleaning schedule the “unwashed” areas of the roof are regularly cleaned during high pressure wash downs.

The engineer on the job, Maurice Harris, of Harris Foster Consulting (HFC), says the required coverage of the area was worked out in conjunction with the builder so that the rides and playground could be comfortably accommodated.

“Rainbow’s End wanted the curved, rainbow-coloured roof – that was always the concept, which was an interesting cover over all the new rides,” says Maurice.

The canopy sits on steel supports more than 8m tall with its apex rising to be more than 11.5m from the ground. Although it is attached to a neighbouring building the canopy is designed to be self-supporting with 600mm universal columns on one side and 457mm circular columns on the other side. The main curve is formed with welded 600mm deep beams at 103kg/m. The roof is supported on HSTC steel purlins.

Maurice says having the canopy supported by L-shaped legs attached to the neighbouring building creates the illusion that it is floating.

Work began on the job in November 2012 and was completed at the end of December 2012, in time for a grand opening of the refurbished area earlier this year.