TENSIONED MEMBRANE STRUCTURES - Dance Pavillion

The objective of this project is to understand the process of form-finding through prestressing and to demonstrate the stiffness and stability provided by prestressing forces to a structure. This project was done in teams of 4 and we designed the Dance Pavillion by Frei Otto.

The structural system of the roof over the dance floor is a typical undulating star comprising six high and six low points and a self-supporting central aperture. The roof surface is composed of twelve equal saddle surfaces, including six mirror-symmetrical ones. The radial carrying and tensioning cables are secured at their inner ends to a ring cable of 6 m diameter and at their outer ends to concrete blocks at the edge of the ornamental pond. By means of securing cables the low points are connected to the edge of the concrete slab (38/1 ). which additionally serves as a counterweight. In the chain model the cable alignments, the cable curves and the slope of the pole were determined.