Mowanjum Art Centre Drawings: Sonnex completed a major steelwork construction job for the Mowanjum Art Centre in Derby, WA, that included the manfacturing and installation of a 60M diameter structure.

Mowanjum Art Centre

The Mowanjum Art Centre is a purpose-built art and tourism complex for the Mowanjum Community just outside the regional town of Derby, Western Australia.

Sonnex manufactured and installed the steelwork for the 60M diameter structure over a period of six weeks, from workshop drawings done in-house from an initial design by the WA architects. Undertaking steelwork construction in remote outback areas bring many challenges: distance, access, water, power, extreme weather, and the organisation required to ensure every nut and bolt has been brought with the truck.

When asked "from a builder’s point of view, how difficult was it to construct?", Wayne Holland of Leamy Constructions in WA responded; "This building is circular and the setout is worked on Radials and Radiuses as opposed to the conventional latitude and longitudinal grid. The level of expertise, computer aided design systems, method of manufacture, sophistication of their equipment and appreciation of critical path programming displayed by Sonnex both on and off site was Exceptional. Each one of the thousands of components fitted together perfectly like a meccano set and the construction process went smoothly from start to finish. What we call in the construction industry, A DREAM JOB".

Creating the workshop drawings presented some challenges and Sonnex used AutoDesk Inventor to create exploded views right down to brackets and cleats of all connections and joints required for the detailed manufacture and construction drawings.

"Using Autodesk Inventor allowed Sonnex design staff to send files direct to the Laser Cutter and the CNC Brake Press that resulted in low-cost manufacturing in short time frames, which meant that schedule times could be easily met, without delay", said Managing Director Jano Tuchyna.

The design of the centre is based on Donny Woolagoodja's 'Namarali' meaning 'Warrior Chief of the Wandjina's' which is the Worrorra, Ngarinyin and Wunambul peoples shared dreamtime; an image that was shared with the world at the opening ceremony of the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

Sonnex has a reputation of working with its customers to develop innovative, timely and low cost solutions to meet engineering challenges in structural steelwork and fabrication.

Please contact Sonnex to discuss how we can help your business with similar projects.

  • Installation
  • Painting
  • Folding
  • Manufacture
  • Drafting
  • Profile Cutting

SA Supply Chain

This Sonnex project has the following SA supply chain:
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