Temporary event activations are everywhere today — shopping centres, public plazas, exhibitions, brand activations, and anniversary celebrations. But while these structures look decorative, from an engineering and legal perspective, they are still structures, which means they have to be checked and calculated.

For the Westfield Parramatta 50-Year Anniversary, a series of large freestanding commemorative arches were installed inside the shopping centre to celebrate key milestones from 1975 to 2025.

Architecturally striking, publicly accessible, and located in a high-foot-traffic environment — this was not something that could be treated as “just an ornament”. At Architectural Engineering Australia (ArchiEng.au), we were engaged to engineer, analyse, and certify these installations so they were safe, compliant, and suitable for a major retail environment.

This article explains what goes into engineering temporary installations like this — and why professional engineering certification is critical.

Temporary Does NOT Mean Low Risk

A common misconception is, “It’s temporary, so it doesn’t need engineering.” In reality, temporary installations often carry higher risk than permanent ones because

• They are frequently free-standing
• They are interacted with by the public
• They are installed on finished floors, not footings
• They are exposed to accidental impacts, crowd interaction, and misuse
• They are often replicated across multiple locations

For shopping centres, this creates real liability such as trip and impact hazards, toppling risk, property damage, public safety exposure or even insurance and landlord approval issues. This is why major asset owners like Westfield require engineering sign-off, even for decorative displays or event activation.

Project Overview – Westfield Parramatta 50-Year Arches

The installation consisted of multiple large freestanding arch structures and displays installed on tiled shopping centre floors. These items are fully accessible to the public. For example, the timeline arch displays historical milestones over a 50-year timeline. These arches have no mechanical fixings into slab or structure. From an engineering perspective, this immediately raised several key questions:

• Can the arches resist accidental pushing?
• Are they stable without anchors?
• What happens if multiple people lean or push?
• How much counterweight is required?
• What is an acceptable deflection limit for public interaction?

Engineering Scope – What We Actually Checked

Unlike many “visual” installations, these arches were treated as engineered structural elements.

Our scope included:

1. Material Property Assessment

The arches were constructed using engineered timber panels (MDF) and timber framing elements. Every material, screws, nails, glues used on this has been carefully assessed and calculated.

We assessed:

• Density
• Elastic modulus
• Bending strength
• Screw holding capacity (face and edge)
• Connection behaviour

This ensures the structure behaves predictably, not just aesthetically.

2. Structural Stability & Overturning Analysis

Because the arches were not mechanically fixed to the floor, stability relied entirely on:

• Self-weight
• Base dimensions
• Added counterweights
• Friction with tiled floor finishes

For the load, we typically analyse for horizontal pushing forces from human, overturning moments, sliding resistance, worst-case loading scenarios and internal wind pressure. This is a critical check for public-facing installations.

3. Human Interaction Load Cases

Unlike permanent buildings, temporary installations must consider human behaviour, not just code loads. Conservatively, we used Spacegass Finite Element Analysis software to carry out finite element analysis on the structure, including casual nudging, deliberate pushing, multiple people applying force and load applied at realistic hand heights. This allowed us to define quantified safety thresholds, not assumptions.

4. Deflection & Serviceability Limits

Even if a structure does not topple, excessive movement is unacceptable in public spaces. Therefore, we carry out extra checks on lateral deflection under various loads, acceptable visual and tactile movement, structure stability perception (people instinctively trust rigid structures more). Deflection was limited to conservative values to ensure no visible wobble, no discomfort to users, no perceived instability

5. Counterweight Design

Rather than guessing, we engineered the counterweight system based on weight per unit, total required mass, placement location, practical installation constraints. This allowed us to adequately calculate the safety performance, efficient logistics, safety margin, resisting moment VS pushing moment, clear instructions for installers, repeatable deployment if reused elsewhere.

Why This Level of Engineering Matters? From the client’s perspective, this engineering approach delivered landlord confidence, public safety assurance, insurer acceptance, clear installation limits and reduced liability exposure. Most importantly, it transformed the installation from “A decorative risk” into a documented, engineered, compliant temporary structure.

What Types of Clients Need This Service?

This type of engineering certification is increasingly required for shopping centres such as Westfield, Vicinity, Chadstone, councils and public realm projects, exhibition and trade show installation, brand activations and pop-ups, seasonal displays (Christmas, Lunar New Year, anniversaries), museums and cultural exhibitions or even temporary pavilions and art installations.

To me, if it's freestanding, or accessible to the public that can be pushed, leaned on, or climbed, It should be engineered.

Why Clients Choose ArchiEng.au for Temporary Structures

Unlike generic engineering consultancies, we specialise in non-standard structures, including:

• Temporary installations
• Modular systems
• Prefabricated elements
• Exhibition structures
• Architectural features that don’t fit textbook tables

Our approach is practical, as we understand installation realities. We understand commercial risk and we will ensure all possibilities are captured to ensure we reduce or completely eliminate the risk. We are very documentation-driven, so our certificate of compliance provides a clear, practical and defensible certification.

We help transform creative ideas into engineered, compliant, approvable structures — safely, efficiently, and professionally.

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