History of Applications

Prehistoric Shelters 9^th century

There is a legend about Assyrian who used inflated bladder from pig to swim across the river which might be the first sign of using inflated constructions.

Nomadic, bushman shelters

American Indians of Great Planes – Tepee Development of Tents and Shelters

Circus Marquee - Chapiteau

The Hanneford Circus in Strabane, Ireland (British Isles, late 1800's).

Tensile structures and their non permanent and movable applications were more or less successfully used by many circus groups travelling around country.

(Source – Internet – see the list of figures)

Fig. 2-1. An example of typical nomadic shelters, if compared with nowadays tent like tensile or membrane construction they look very similar.

Source: BECHTHOLD 2008: 19

Fig. 2-2.

1485 - Leonardo da Vinci

One of the first idea of biomimicry using bird skeletal structure and movement of wings to achieve very primitive design of a simple flying machine for human could be considered as a firs application of tensile structures in mechanical engineering.

1783 – Montgolfier brothers – first flight of hot air balloon 1785 – Blanchard – balloon flight thru the Canale La Manche.

1894 – Otto Lilienthal – ''Glider King''

Lilenthal´s gliders and Zeppelin´s airships were firs successful examples of tensile structure applied in aviation.

2 July 1900 - first successful rigid airship, the Zeppelin LZ1.

Fig. 2-3. Leonardo da Vinci´s Ornithopter.

(Source – Internet – see the list of figures)

Fig. 2-4. Festo group - Smart Bird a nowadays Ornithopter.

(Source – Internet – see the list of figures)

Fig. 2-5. Otto Lilenthal´s Glider No. 11. in flight.

(Source – Internet – see the list of figures)

Fig. 2-6. Zeppelin LZ1 in flight.

(Source – Internet – see the list of figures)

December 17, 1903 - Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur – first airplane WW I – Army airships and observation balloons, invention of parachute 1917 - 1945 - Inflated Domes and Shelters

for UK and US Army, later experiments for general public residence.

Fig. 2-7. Fig. 2-8. Fig. 2-9.

Fig. 2-10.a Fig. 2-11.b Fig. 2-12.c

Fig. 2-7.: Lanchaster´s project of pneumatic house from the year 1917.

Source: BECHTHOLD 2008: 21.

Fig. 2-8.: Walter Bird´s one of the first ''radoms'' – lately used as a cover for radar station in WW II.

Source: BECHTHOLD 2008: 22.

Fig. 2-9.: Schjeldahl, was the first company that came up with transparent inflatable structures.

Source: BECHTHOLD 2008: 23.

Fig. 2-10.a.: Skylon tower at the Festival of Britain – view from the river.

(Source – Internet – see the list of figures) Fig. 2-11.b.: Skylon during day.

(Source – Internet – see the list of figures) Fig. 2-12.c.: Skylon during night.

(Source – Internet – see the list of figures)

1951 - Skylon tower

Futuristic tensegrity structure designed by Hidalgo Moya, Philip Powell and engineer Felix Samuely during the Festival of Britain.

Frei Otto

German structural engineer, famous for his membrane structures below two of his famous visionary projects.

1953 – Glazed pre - stressed cable net over the city for mineworkers.

1954 – cable net roof over mountain valley by F. Otto.

Richard B. Fuller

1960 – Richard Buckminster Fuller´s idea of Manhattan dome.

Original idea of futuristic mega domes over large spaces, following the idea of internal space with programmable weather conditions, during the time project was developed idea was really utopian, but

nowadays artificial interior conditions are more or less basic part of life.

Fig. 2-13.

Fig. 2-15.: R. B. Fuller´s famous project of dome over Manhattan.

(Source – Internet – see the list of figures)

Fig. 2-14.

Fig. 2-13.: F. Otto – Cable net roof over the mountain area.

(Source – Internet – see the list of figures) Fig. 2-14.: F. Otto - City for mine workers.

Source:

1967 – Les Utopies Gonflables - The Utopias – Aubert, Jungmann and Stinco...

A group of artists including architects formed in France influenced by inflatable constructions rose. Examples of their works could be seen in the figures below.

1967 – EXPO Montreal 67

Richard Buckminster Fuller´s Biosphere project (fig 2-18) and Frei Otto´s membrane German Pavilion (fig 2-19) presented in Expo 67 in Montreal were building that started a new revolution in constructions.

1968 – American historic, March Dessance

defend the idea of Aubert, Jungmann, Stinco and others from Les Utopies Gonflables group. He created a protest in Paris called ''Inflatable moments'', focused on inflatable constructions and their applications as a new vision in architecture.

Fig. 2-17.

Fig. 2-16.

Fig. 2-18. Fig. 2-19.

Fig. 2-16. Sketches for Dyodon project by Jean-Paul Jungmann.

(Source – Internet – see the list of figures)

Fig. 2-17. Jean Aubert, Jean Paul Jungmann, Paul Stinco project of inflatable dome.

(Source – Internet – see the list of figures)

Fig. 2-18. American pavilion - Biosphere.

(Source – Internet – see the list of figures) Fig. 2-19. German pavilion.

(Source – Internet – see the list of figures)

1970 – EXPO 70, Osaka, Japan

Fuji company pneumatic Pavilion by Yutaka Murata in expo 70 held in Osaka, Japan ( fig.

2-20 -2-21 ) – used air supported tubular structures as a main supports.

firstly created an idea for permanent in-habitation of Antarctic Continent

1998 – Blow up exhibition

Chantal Prod´ Hon, Jochen Eisenbrand and Mathias Schwartz – Clauss used ideas of air as a medium for practical applications (Berlin, Germany).

Present and possible future...?

At the beginning inflatable construction was just a simple sack filled with air, nowadays when methods of computing stresses, and design programs could create practically any shape, one might consider membranes as a construction element of non exhaustible architectural imagination...

Fig. 2-20. Fig. 2-21.

Fig . 2-22. Fig. 2-23.

Fig. 2-20.: Fuji group pavilion at expo in 1970 – Osaka, Japan - plan.

(Source – Internet – see the list of figures) Fig. 2-21.: Fuji group pavilion at expo in 1970.

(Source – Internet – see the list of figures)

Fig . 2-22. Feasibility study “City in the Antarctica“, 1971. Air-supported building as climatic shell over a city (together with E. Bubner, K. Tange, O. Arup)(Source of text : .www.freiotto.com/FreiOtto%20ordner/FreiOtto/HauptseiteGross.html) (Source – Internet – see the list of figures)

Fig . 2-23. Feasibility study “City in the Antarctica“ - view of the model.

(Source – Internet – see the list of figures)

1971 - Arctic Dome by Frei Otto

Frei Otto just as a Buckminster Fuller was interested in building domes and thus creating an artificial living conditions in the places people do not inhabit just because unsuitable cliving conditions. His famous example pictured above was dome over Arctic circle

Air tubes and tensile structures together?

As tensile structures are light constructions, designers together with civil engineers try to find lighter solutions also for bearing parts so that the whole concept will be more complex. Inflatable tubes get bearing function, which makes them flexible supporting structure for bridges, girders, even as a non permanent shuttering for complicated shapes.

Jul 2006 - The Tubaloon at the Kongsberg Jazz Festival

ETFE – Ethylene TetrafluoreEthylene

ETFE pillows – applications in Eden Project and Beijing Water Cube.

Fig. 2-24.

A

B C

D E

F G

Fig. 2-24.A.: Water Cube in Beijing, China – construction net for ETFE pillows.

(Source – Internet – see the list of figures)

Fig. 2-24.B.: Water Cube in Beijing, China -ETFE pillows inside view.

(Source – Internet – see the list of figures)

Fig. 2-24.C.: Water Cube in Beijing, China - ETFE pillow – outside view.

(Source – Internet – see the list of figures) Fig. 2-24.D.: ETFE pillows at display.

(Source – Internet – see the list of figures)

Fig. 2-24.E.: Eden project – UK. Project during construction – application of ETFE pillow into the construction.

(Source – Internet – see the list of figures)

Fig. 2-24.F.: Water Cube in Beijing, China – project during construction.

(Source – Internet – see the list of figures)

Fig. 2-24.G.: Eden project – UK. Project during construction.

(Source – Internet – see the list of figures)

Norway studio Snøhetta AS showed incorporation of the tensile and pneumatic construction presenting so called Tubaloon inspired by a shape of human Ear to create interactive covering for Jazz Festival (see gallery of application fig. no. 2-42).

2004 - Dr. Mauro Pedretti - Tensairity beams

Dr. Pedretti presented air as a construction supporting medium to create light weight beam some of the latest examples of ETFE structure applications

2006 - 2010 - Khan Shatyry Entertainment center in Astana, Kazachstan.

Khan Shatyry Entertainment center represents one of the newest example of ETFE application by Sir Norman Foster and Partners.

2010 - Hydrogenase – Vincent Callebaut

Internationally well known visionary Belgian architect Vincent. Callebaut promoting interdisciplinary architectural design combining science inventions of modern biology, chemistry, physics and connect them in green, sustainable architectural design Project of Hydrogenase applies radical vertical farming idea using airships that produce biofuel from seaweed.

2012 - EXPO 2012 Korea – Ocean Pavilion Theme ''The Living Ocean and Coast''

Fig. 2-25. Fig. 2-26. Fig. 2-27.

Fig. 2-25.: Vincent Callebaut – project of Hyddrogenase - radical idea for a vertical farm.

(Source – Internet – see the list of figures)

Fig. 2-26.: Ocean pavilion – EXPO 2012 Korea. Emergent Architecture and Kokkugia.

(Source – Internet – see the list of figures)

Fig. 2-27.: Foster and Partners - Khan Shatyry Entertainment Centre.

(Source – Internet – see the list of figures)