Florida-Based Company Apollo Sunguard Makes Shade a Work of Art
Sarasota-based company Apollo Sunguard creates masterpieces of art with shade, evidenced by its custom work, problem solving and attention to detail.
Sarasota’s newest event venue, The Ora, opened in Spring of 2024 with a spacious outdoor Plaza Terrace tucked beneath a comfortable blanket of shade sails that also offer spectacular views of the sky between panels. The shade structures, designed and manufactured by Apollo Sunguard, are meant to evoke emotion and stand the test of time as a work of art.
“I wanted to build something that is a timeless piece of art – as that is part of our philosophy at Apollo Sunguard – but I also wanted to build something that has simplicity to it and has complexity at the same time and is classic,” said Ernesto De Oliveira, chief operating officer and VP of engineering for Apollo Sunguard.
As the country’s oldest privately owned shade manufacturer, Apollo Sunguard provides superior commercial shade structures throughout the United States. The company’s attention to detail has led to the manufacturing and installation of high-quality shade structures that offer heat reduction, biomimicry, UV protection and a patented Quick Release System to easily remove and reattach shade cloth in the event of a storm. The company stands by its quality, offering the industry’s strongest warranty – 20 years on the steel framework and 15 years on the fabric. But it’s the attention to detail and art that makes Apollo Sunguard truly stand out.
Evoking an Emotion and Experience with Shade at The Ora in Sarasota
Apollo Sunguard’s shade structures at The Ora are situated on 32 acres within the Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee’s campus just a few miles from downtown Sarasota, which is well known globally for its arts and culture scene.
The venue features 30,000-square-feet of versatile space, including a 10,000-square-foot ballroom, a spacious lobby, a gallery, and a Terrace Room with a full wall of glass with views of the Plaza Terrace and lush landscaping. Apollo Sunguard was contacted by the project’s architects to create a shade structure for the Plaza Terrace using Apollo Sunguard’s “magic” to combine both art and shade sails.
“It can’t just be form following function. It’s function covering the area that conforms to the geometry of the area,” De Oliveira said. “I wanted something that had a little bit of passion. I wanted something that evoked some emotion when you look at it.”
The Ora project is an example of the type of custom work clients get when they work with Apollo Sunguard. De Oliveira spent four days pondering and mulling over the space and how he could make it work in a unique and impactful way. “I remember it was like a Sunday morning and I looked up and said, ‘I think I’ve got to put the two shade sales together,’” he said. He got to work right away drawing his vision. The result? A structure with shade sails reaching a variety of heights, ranging from 9 feet to 28 feet in the air.
“You can see these rounded curves when you are sitting underneath it, but as you approach the structure from the side – from the parking lot or from the pond – you have these saw-toothed, jagged, almost violent shapes that point up and down and then you have this tail coming to the back. But, when you look at it from the top or from the bottom, it just looks like a gentle single canopy – but it’s actually two,” De Oliveira said.
The Plaza Terrace is now marketed as a destination of its own within The Ora. The event venue books weddings, celebrations and other gatherings out on the deck. “When we completed the project, I got a call from one of the event planners who thanked me for providing a venue all its own. It really is a destination,” De Oliveira said.
Creating An Unforgettable Experience with Shade in Daytona Beach
The design of the Ora was an evolution of a project that the Apollo Sunguard team had worked on in 2022 at Daisy Stocking Park in Daytona.
At the time, the City of Daytona Beach had set out to improve a historic park in the downtown area, which was well-used as a location for festivals and outdoor concerts but underwhelming in aesthetics and function. Renovations included an upgraded large amphitheater, picnic tables, a playground area, new lighting, a gateway entrance, landscaping, sidewalks and pathways. Castle Bay Architecture, the lead project designer and administrator, contacted Apollo Sunguard to provide shade in the spacious audience area in front of the amphitheater.
“They didn’t just want a hip roof and a shade sail between,” De Oliveira said. “They wanted something captivating. The challenge was the placement of the power lines.”
A large easement of powerlines stretched around the park and through the center where the shade structure was to be installed. “There was a high easement of powerlines going through to the auditorium,” De Oliveira said. “So we had to split our structure.”
That split formed a passageway, in which the large steel framework now run along the sides of the audience area – strategically pointing outward to create a tunnel effect. Standing at the mouth of the shade structure, the placement of the steel columns cause the eyes to be drawn to the stage as the focal point. Two large sails are layered above, attached at different heights. It’s that level of detail in the shades that help shape the experience of concert goers. “The view from the side is a violent up-and-down, but it’s calming and open below,” De Oliveira said. “Beneath the sail, you feel like you are under a blanket, but you can, in some areas, still look up and see the sun and sky.”
The Art of Problem Solving with Shade Structures
Not all of Apollo Sunguard’s shade structures are as artistic visually as the Ora and Daisy Stocking Park, but the true art is in the way in which the installation and engineering were accomplished. This was true for the University of Florida’s tennis stadium.
The University of Florida wanted to add stadium shade to the 1,000-seat grandstand at Alfred R. Ring Tennis Complex overlooking six main lighted courts and six back courts. The facility was built in the 1980s, to the building standards that are four decades old.
“Building standards have changed tremendously, and so is the way we handle concrete. The challenge was attaching our shade structures to the existing stadium. Every single one of the beams had to be custom placed,” De Oliveira said.
First there was the challenge of obtaining the original architectural drawings, which were done by hand. Then, there was the challenge of the concrete itself, which was built to the 1980s code for concrete – much different today. For this, the team brought in specialized equipment to X-ray the foundation to determine the placement of the rebar within the concrete – as special attention needed to be made to ensure the stadium’s stability was not compromised when the shade framework was installed. Based on this information, the team determined the proper placement and support of the shade framework.
“It was a lot of problem-solving. It was like trying to piece more and more pieces together,” De Oliveira said. “People think it’s easy to add shade, but it’s not.”
Now, hundreds of tennis fans enjoy cooler temperatures under a bright blue shade cloth at the tennis complex in the center of the University of Florida’s campus.
The Frank Lloyd Wright of Shade Manufacturers
“I consider us the ‘Frank Lloyd Wright of Shade Manufacturers,’” De Oliverira said. “We produce a product that is timeless and artistic and really fits in the surrounding environment.”
Apollo Sunguard offers more than 9 different categories of shade structures designed to cover any amount of space, from small picnic and lounge areas to entire basketball or pickleball courts. Choose from a variety of different color fabrics, made of high-density polyethylene material that contains ultraviolent additives and is breathable, mildew-resistant and mold-resistant. All of its products are designed to block the harmful effects of the sun, but it’s the customization that makes this company shine.
“We are truly an artistic company,” De Oliveira said. “We specialize in making unique products and making timeless pieces of art out of shade cloth. Most landscape architects and architects alike are very visual and artistic people. We can help them find something unique that no one else has.”
