The wine castle of the Thaller family east of Graz is a meeting place for various events. A retractable roof is designed to make the open courtyard of the house, which was built in 2006, suitable for use irrespective of the weather. The movable roof consists of ten steel frames that are covered with a membrane. When deployed, these frames form a folding structure. The frames are connected to each other by six spherical bearings in the groove as well as in the ridge, thus allowing the segments to be folded when the corresponding support points are moved.
The folded segments are each carried on a roller unit at the ends of the grooves. They roll on a rail mounted above the existing roof cladding. Cantilever beams holding the rails transfer the loads of directly into the existing structure.
While the roof is opening up, the first carriage is actively pulled to the garage with the help of a winch. As the bearing points of the folding unit thus move towards each other, the steel frames steepen until the first carriage meets the adjacent second one. Now the carriage pushes the roller unit by contact towards the third carriage. This process is repeated until all carriages are in contact with each other and all steel frames are upright and close together. In this position, the convertible roof is in its garage position, which means that the courtyard is completely open.
The lighting mood suitable for all events is realized via staging lighting. The light modules in the upper part illuminate the membrane roof and thus provide indirect lighting of the courtyard. The light modules in the lower section illuminate the courtyard and accentuate the columns.
