Tensile architecture

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The world's first steel tensile structure by Vladimir Shukhov (during construction), Nizhny Novgorod, 1896

The roof tensile structures by Frei Otto of the Olympiapark, Munich

Tensile architecture is a relatively new field of architecture devoted to lightweight membrane structures. Composed primarily of a cable-net supporting a fabric or sheet material structures, this form of architecture is well suited for sheltering large areas, such as stadiums, arenas, outdoor shelters, and airport terminals.

Russian engineer Vladimir Shukhov was one of the first to develop practical calculations of stresses and deformations of beams, shells and membranes. Shukhov designed eight thin-shell structures exhibition pavilions for the Panrussian Exposition of 1896, covering the area of 27,000 m².

Since the 1960s, tensile structures have been championed by designers and engineers such as Frei Otto, Eero Saarinen, Horst Berger, Matthew Nowicki, the duo of Nicholas Goldsmith & Todd Dalland at FTL Design & Engineering Studio and David Geiger.

Notable Projects

• Millennium Dome, London
• Olympiapark, Munich
• Ingalls Rink, Yale University
• Pengrowth Saddledome, Calgary
• Denver International Airport, Denver
• Georgia Dome, Atlanta
• Dorton Arena, Raleigh
• Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Melbourne
• Ashford Retail Park, Kent, UK
• David Beckham Football Academy, London
• Barclays Bank Headquarters, London
• Imagination Headquarters, London
• Plashet Bridge, London
• Columbus Center, Baltimore, Maryland
• Pier6 Music Pavilion, Baltimore, Maryland
• Carlos Moseley Music Pavilion, New York, NY
• Finnish Chancery, Washington, DC
• National Symphony Orchestra, Washington, DC

See also

The Millennium Dome, London

• Vladimir Shukhov
• The Panrussian Exposition 1896
• Frei Otto
• Eero Saarinen
• Horst Berger
• Tensegrity
• Minimal surfaces
• Tensile structure
• Thin-shell structure
• Hyperboloid structure
• Actuated Tensegrity

External links

Denver International Airport terminal

• Leaders in the Field of Tensile Architecture
• An Introduction to Membrane Structures
• Maintaining Tensile Structures
• Vladimir Shukhov
• Frei Otto
• Horst Berger
• Tension Structures
• Gallery of tensile structures
• Tensile pavillions
• A Kilometre of Tensile Fabric - Ashford Retail Village, Kent
• Cable roof of Georgia Dome
• The worlds largest mobile venue
• TensiNet, the Communication Network for Tensile Structures in Europe
• Institute for Lightweight Structures, Stuttgart, Germany
• International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures
• Gunnar Tibert. Numerical analyses of cable roof structures
• The Point, Paddington Basin Double Glazed Cable Net Roof

Further reading

• "The Nijni-Novgorod exhibition: Water tower, room under construction, springing of 91 feet span", "The Engineer", № 19.3.1897, P.292-294, London, 1897.
• Horst Berger, Light structures, structures of light: The art and engineering of tensile architecture (Birkhäuser Verlag, 1996) ISBN 376435352
• Alan Holgate, The Art of Structural Engineering: The Work of Jorg Schlaich and his Team (Books Britain, 1996) ISBN 3-930698-67-6
• Elizabeth Cooper English: “Arkhitektura i mnimosti”: The origins of Soviet avant-garde rationalist architecture in the Russian mystical-philosophical and mathematical intellectual tradition”, a dissertation in architecture, 264 p., University of Pennsylvania, 2000.
• Rainer Graefe: “Vladimir G. Šuchov 1853-1939 - Die Kunst der sparsamen Konstruktion.”, S.192, Stuttgart, DVA, 1990. [1]

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