Why have a tensile shade structure? Because employees and corporate visitors will like being in the courtyard if it is comfortable and beautiful.

That's the philosophy at Finisar Corporation in Sunnyvale, CA.  And that's exactly what this manufacturer of fiber optic subsystems and network test systems did for their employees and visitors. They created a veritable Garden of Eden!  Right in the courtyard at their corporate headquarters. 

Maybe I exaggerate.  There aren't any women in the garden passing out apples.  And no snakes.   And we didn't hear loud, booming voices coming from above.

But...winding pathways and bridges over flowing brooks and bubbling fishponds.  Beautiful, fragrant flowers!  And butterflies.

See the guy in the photo?  You know he's smart because he's wearing a white coat.  Well, the cool shade enables him to concentrate on his next invention...the one that will change the world.

We designed, engineered, fabricated, & constructed this tensile shade structure shaped into a hyperbolic curve.  See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperbolic_curve.  It serves as a cool patio canopy for employees on break.  Yes, and I mean "cool" in both senses of the word.

By the way, if you understand the Wikipedia definition of "hyperbolic curve" linked above, then you deserve a white coat too!