Retractable roof structures on cruise ships

By Brian Lenartowich, Director of Construction

As the only competitive sailor amongst colleagues at OpenAire, I truly appreciate the extra effort put in by design staff, structural engineers and mechanical engineers who work on our cruise ship projects. Imagine an operable, aluminum and glass roof and wall structure that is subjected to yaw, roll, pitch and planing forces on the high seas.The physical forces sustained by the cruise ship, the effects of the harsh sea and the ambient weather conditions put our designs to the test like no other land-based environment.

OpenAire enclosures are built tough and are made to withstand corrosive salt water and appreciable climatic temperature variations. Our thermally broken aluminum systems are immune to rust and decay.This means they’re always attractive and won’t need repainting—which is especially important for cruise ship passengers immersed in a “floating paradise”.

The OpenAire system is designed to perform flawlessly, as much during “dead-calm seas” and for less than idyllic “cruise-ship-like” weather.Those cruise ship “landlubbers”, without tried and true sea legs, may wish to seek safe passage in an OpenAire structure during a perfect storm. But amidst the wind and rain, I much prefer re-enacting the Kate and Leo pose from Titanic.