Suspended Partition Curtain Track

Element Church out of Wyoming called us to help them design a partition curtain track. They wanted to block off seating in 4 locations of their auditorium. The designed call for a curtain that would help control seating.

Challenges

The biggest challenge was suspending the black track below all the HVAC, lighting, pipes, etc. The ceiling heights were 180″ (15′). The track would suspend from the ceiling approx. 66″ making the finished length of the drapery 114″ (9′-5″) .

Design Options

We came up with 3 design ideas that were all plotted using Auto CAD. Each one had it’s own pros & cons.

The Final Design Option C

This design kept all the existing seating possible and stack of drapery to a minimal. Each section was plotted and placement of tracks worked with existing seating.

Designing Hardware Components

To keep cost down we used CS Contract black track from Forest Drapery Hardware. We used ball bearing carriers with j-hook, and Suspended bracket system clips. For the drops we used Black Oxide 1/2″ threaded rod from All American Thread Products.

To hang the threaded rods we used a 1/2″ I-beam clamps that attached to the I-beams in the ceiling and in some places we used 14-Gauge half slotted metal framing strut channels.

Modifying Hardware to Accommodate Bracket Clip

Attaching the bracket clip took a little more creativity, as we needed the clips to attach to the 1/2″ threaded rod. Solution, we used a ceiling bracket meant for 1/2″ threaded rod and drilled out the mounting holes to accommodate the suspended bracket clip, and then painted them black to match the ceiling.

Drapery Design

The choice of drapery we used was a grommet top drapery with 7/16″ black grommets spaced approx 10″ apart with 1.25x fullness. The drapery was pretty flat in it’s closed position, but had enough fullness to insure the drapery covered the maximum opening.

Fabric Used

From Rose Brand we choose a 12 oz. Velour in black which was flame proof and acoustic sound rated.

Plotting and Printing of Full Scale Patterns for Track

Our next challenge was laying out the 14 tracks for full scale printing as each of the 4 sections had different curves and angles. The full scale patterns were printed by Horizon Reprographics, then delivered to Aspen Designer Supply for track bending.

2 Laser Levels

To avoid the lighting fixtures and place the track between the seating required 2 laser devices. These lasers helped us layout the curved tracks. These lasers helped placing the exact location of the i-beam clamps & struts that were used for the threaded rod.

The Final Out Come

Watch the video for the final out come on a perfect design, layout & installation.