St Joseph Tobruk Memorial School

St Joseph's Tobruk Memorial in Beenleigh, Queensland is a co-educational, Catholic primary school promoting respect for the environment, healthy living, future focused education, creating a safe and supportive community, celebrating differences and nurturing spirituality.

The original school building was opened with 97 students and 21 borders and St Joseph's Tobruk Memorial School opened its doors in 1954 for students. In 2006 a fire destroyed the original school building, and a new administration and reception was built.

Experiencing pressure on their available space, St Joseph’s Tobruk Memorial School needed to create multi-purpose areas and consulted an Architect group who developed a concept but weren’t sure if and how it was buildable. Teaming up with Versatile Structures, we designed and engineered a buildable shade sail solution of 38 squares of Rainbow Z16 Shade Cloth fabric spanning across a 15m free span that is supported by 8mm high tensile 316 marine grade cables to offer a cost-effective and stylish way to protect students from heat and UV radiation.

The area is now used as an outdoor classroom, an innovative learning space and a place to relax during break times.