During the warmer months of the year, the courtyard of Bern’s Burgerspital provides a well-used oasis of calm amid the hustle and bustle of the city center. Three awnings erected around the edge of the courtyard provide welcome outdoor space, shade and shelter from the elements in the heart of the Swiss capital. Every Fall, the roofs are taken down and stored away, then reassembled the following Spring. Easy to put up and take down, the structures read clearly as contemporary additions that enhance rather than dominate the listed building.

The canopy frames consist of turned glulam members connected together by steel sleeves to form fishbelly trusses, which are anchored to the facade by steel brackets and supported on round, fluted glulam posts. Fine steel struts prevent the bottom truss chords, which are subject to compression in strong winds, from buckling. The timber posts are anchored in the ground using screw piles to provide horizontal bracing. These fixings eliminate the need for X-bracing in the awning itself. Since the canopies are not used in the winter, snow load calculations were unnecessary, and we were able to use slimline cross sections to produce a structure that can be stripped down to its component parts and is light enough to be carried by two people. For assembly, the individual sections are attached to the connectors provided using steel construction bolts before the canvas is stretched over the awning. The awning is then fixed to the wooden frame using an engineered connection system. The result is a summer canopy that offers both respite from heat and rain and a moment of calm in the center of Bern.