Civil Engineering Reference
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most of the large fabric structures in the United States in the latter half of the 20
th
Century.)
Figure 1-4
Walter Bird on top of the first radome near Buffalo, NY in
1946
(Photograph with permission from Milt Punnett)
The 1970 World's Fair site in Osaka, Japan provided the impetus for rapid
developments in fabric structures. The poor soil conditions and the threat of seismic
shaking both suggested the use of lightweight structures. From a structural
standpoint, the most significant building at the Fair was the U.S. Pavilion designed by
the architecture firm of Davis and Brody and engineer David Geiger of the Geiger-
Berger firm (Figure 1-5). The low-profile, cable-restrained, air-supported structure
was made of vinyl-coated fiberglass spanning to an oval-shaped concrete
compression ring. It provided 10 800 square meters of column-free exhibit space.
By using a super-ellipse for the ring and a diagonal cable pattern, Geiger was able to
greatly reduce the bending forces in the ring. This simple, innovative structure was
actually the result of major budget cutbacks that had sacked two previous designs by
the architects.
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