Hyperbolic paraboloid for church in Boulder Colorado This structure is unique in that the longitudinal central ridge is lower

than the peak of the arches. This construction view shows the steel ties to connect the springs of the triangular arches that will subsequently be concealed by the colored glass brick filler walls. The concrete on the steep slopes was placed by the shotcrete method.

Barrel Shell for Bakery

This roof system has multiple bays in each direction. A unit is composed of two circular elements as shown. The shell was formed with a fixed form at the small circle at the columns and a movable form for the large circle. There are no horizontal ties at the columns. Shells are ideal for bakeries because of the hard surfaces and few horizontal surfaces to catch dust.

Hyperbolic Paraboloid Roof for Entertainment Center This roof in this construction picture is about 185 ft. square, and is supported on steel tripod elements. In plan, the structure is not square but has eight sides, so the length of the top rib is roughly the same length as the sloping side ribs. This is to avoid the box like roof of a square roof plan. The structural ribs, however, are on square plan. The roof thickness is 3 inches, except for the ribs.

Construction view of small hangar for business airplane

This structure is a cylinder, square in plan. The rear rib is supported by columns, and the front rib is essentially an arch supported at the abutments, and at the crown, laterally, by prestressing cables running across the top of the shell.

INTERSECTION SHELL - SQUARE IN PLAN SHALLOW INTERSECTION This structure is a dome formed by using triangular pieces of a cylindrical shell arranged in the form of a square. The drawing, however, conveys more than the description.

The word "shallow" has been used to indicate that the angle between the components is rather small, especially if the rise of the shell is small. With four sides, however, the ribs formed by the intersection should provide an adequate structural member. It is the best type of dome to cover a square area and maintain a level parapet around the building. The structural action is essentially that of a short shell. Loads are carried by the cross ribs formed by the intersection and by the stiffening element created by the edge beam. The bottom of the shell requires tensile reinforcement as in a short shell. This structure can be inverted and supported from a central column similar to the "umbrella shell" described in the chapter on warped surfaces.

GROINED VAULT - SQUARE IN PLAN The groined vault is an intersection shell composed of four triangular pieces of cylindrical shells, arranged in a cross form so that there are arches on each of the sides. This is one of the most ancient of masonry arch structures and still used for underground water reservoirs of concrete without any reinforcing. The usual vault is a continuous structure but only a single unit is shown here. The structure obtains its rigidity by the large angle between the shell components at the intersections which creates a very strong rib. The size of these structures is almost unlimited because the form is inherently very strong and is stiffened by six complete arches. In order to take advantage of the rigs, it is necessary to have the center of the abutments at the center of the effective rib. Otherwise, an additional heavy rib is required which impairs the appearance of the groined vault.

GROINED VAULT - POLYGONAL PLAN This structure is similar to the previous groined vault, square in plan, except that there are five triangular cylindrical elements instead of four. The shells which form the dome all have axes perpendicular to the vertical axis. Again, an excellent structural rib is formed by the intersection.

Arched stiffening ribs are required around the outside of the structure and these ribs exert thrusts at their abutments. Therefore, either a steel tie is required at this level (it can be hidden by the window), or if the area must be open, thrust abutments can be used. There are, of course, many possible variations on the structure sketched here. If six sides are used, a continuous series of shells my be constructed and units of this type could alternate with those having a shallow intersection.

INTERSECTION SHELL - CROSS FORM Four cylindrical barrels intersect to form a central dome. The structure is supported by four columns at the corners of the intersection so that part of the barrel cantilevers from the central dome. Provision must be made for thrusts from the barrels and the central dome at the column. There are several alternates: 1) the columns may be made very heavy, 2) short lengths of walls in an angle shape may be used at the corners instead of individual columns, 3) diagonal members may be placed in each of the walls, or 4) ties may be place between tops of columns. The latter solution might be unsightly if the interior of the building should be clear. Shell thicknesses for this structure should correspond to those used for barrel shells. The cantilever span of the barrels should not be made too large to take the bending forces. The architectural advantage of this structure is that it appears to float in the air. Therefore, windows should be located so that this illusion is preserved.

INTERSECTION SHELL - FOLDED PLATE A two element folded plate is shown here as an intersection shell and is similar to the previous example. Almost all the combinations used for curved shells may be used for folded plates, the resulting forms are almost unlimited. In the above sketch, a cross form is used. The columns may be place so that there is no column at the corner and the central dome is suspended from four cantilevers. However, it is better to put the column in the corner so that the central intersection may be used as the stiffening element. The resulting thrusts can be carried by diagonal braces in the plane of the outside walls and may be concealed by the wall construction. The

same effect is achieved by a solid concrete wall in each corner. Ties around the barrel would be very unsightly in this structure.

FOLDED PLATE DOME - TAPERED ELEMENTS This dome makes use of tapered folded plates slanting to the center in the form of a tent. It can be built so that each of the triangular elements is self supporting during construction except for possibly a single shore at the crown. The forms, therefore, can be re-used many times in contrast to the usual dome structure. To obtain natural light, the top may be cut off and a ring inserted with a skylight. The arch thrusts are taken through this ring and the difficult forming of the narrow plates at the crown is avoided. The acoustics of this dome should be better than the domes of revolution previously shown because the reflections of sound do not focus at a point. The structure shown here is a circular thrust ring. If the structure is large, there would be very high bending stresses due to the curvature, and the ring would be very large.

MULTI-FACET DOME Domes may be constructed with many planes so they resemble the facets of a diamond. The structural problem in designing these shells is to provide enough angle between the planes so that an actual rib is formed which will be stiff enough to support the plane surface. Usually it is best to start with a spherical translation surface or other mathematical surface and have all the intersections lie on this surface. Otherwise, there may be discontinuities in the layout of intersections which make or destroy the visual effect and make the structure more difficult to design. This dome can be of much greater span than the previous example because the span of the individual slab elements is less. A dome hexagonal in plan can be made continuous with all the adjacent units if it is necessary to cover a large area.

CONOID A conoidal surface, as shown in the sketch above, is formed by drawing straight lines between a curve such as a circle and a straight line. It is a ruled surface because it can be formed by straight lines. A cylinder and a cone also are ruled surfaces but a sphere is not in this category. In the above cases, the shell is supported by a wall or a beam at the left and by an arch at the right. The appearance of the roof of the typical steel bow string truss building can be reproduced in a concrete thin shell construction by using short shells for the middle bays and conoids for the ends. This structure is suitable for a large entrance canopy. The horizontal line at the rear can be the second floor level, the curved arch the entrance to the canopy.

HYPERBOLIC PARABOLOIDAL SADDLE DOME Dome shaped structures of large span may be made from combinations of hyperbolic paraboloids, as sketched above. They may be square, rectangular, or diamond shaped. The shell depends for its strength on one of the corners being raised relative to the others. Therefore, this shape produces an enclosure with large tapered windows on the side. The thrusts in the edge members become very large and these members should be terminated at the ground in a thrust abutment, or a steel tie should be provided between corners. In addition, another support is necessary on one of the ribs, preferably at one of the corners. Window mullions, if they are at the rib, should be made structural columns to prevent relative movement between the rib and the window.

THE GROINED VAULT A vault can be constructed from parts of four trumpet shells, as shown in the sketch. It may be built without ribs because the curvature of the edges makes the shell sufficiently stiffer and the intersection of the surfaces creates two rigid crossed arches which carry the loads to the supports. Again, this structure is formed with straight lines even though there is considerable curvature to the final surface. A very dramatic effect can be obtained by continuing the shell beyond the edges shown in the sketch.

MASSIVE ABUTMENTS The abutments to the arch in this structure have been mad in the form of an inverted U rigid frame. If the abutments are made heavy and rigid, then the arch may be lighter so it may be more economical to use the large mass of concrete at the lower elevation to save concrete in the arches. In a monumental structure, such as an auditorium, the side spaces can be used as archways for access to the seating area. Instead of the U frame, which is subjected to very heavy bending moments, a triangular frame may be used with the apex at the springing of the arch. The structural members of this abutment can be quire thin because they follow the thrust line of the forces better than does the U frame. An architectural problem of the short shell structure is the proper design of the end walls. On a long span structure there will be large blank areas that require careful architectural treatment to make the structure pleasing.

CANTILEVER ABUTMENTS The span of the arch may be reduced and the depth and thickness may be made smaller if the support of the arch is placed at the end of a beam cantilever from the wall of the building. This design provides space under the cantilevers for seating by using area that would otherwise be required for the arch ribs. The design of this structure requires a balance between the height of the arch and the span so the thrust line will be located in the optimum position. This structure is most suitable for a large monumental auditorium structure rather than a building where economy is the principle consideration. The large volume of concrete and reinforcing steel in the abutment would not be required of the abutment could follow the thrust line.

CORRUGATED CURVES Barrel shells in the form of corrugations may offer structural advantages and may have esthetic values which make such a roof desirable. Forms are not more difficult to build if the curvatures are not greater than the bending radius of the

material used to line the forms. One structural advantage is that the same area is supplied at the top and bottom of the shells and they are suitable for continuous structures where the maximum area of concrete is required at the bottom of the shell at the support. Instead of alternative concave and convex circles of the same radius, the curves may be alternate circles of long and short radius. For the mathematically inclined, the shape may be of the pure sine curve. There are innumerable combinations of curves, or curves and folded plates to serve the particular esthetic or structural function.

Z SHELL Each of the units above has one large sloping plate and two edge plates arranged with space between the units for windows. This form has been called a Z shell and is similar to the louver used for window ventilation. The architectural effect is very dramatic if the structure can be shown by a cantilever projected out beyond the support. The windows are normally open to the north but most of the light is actually reflected south light. To increase this effect, the roof surface can be painted with aluminum so light from the sun is reflected through the windows to the ceiling and the windows need not be very large. Adjacent units should be tied together by structural window mullions. In constructing the Z shell, movable forms need only be lowered a short vertical distance if construction is started on the right and proceeds to the left. The Z shell is not an efficient structural shape since it is discontinuous and its effective depth is much less than the actual vertical depth. Therefore, the spans are limited in comparison to the plates having a large number of units side by side.

CANOPIES A folded plate structure for a small canopy at the entrance of a building is shown. This folded plate has four segments. A two segment structure is not desirable because it has very little torsional resistance. This instability can be demonstrated by a paper model having the ends of the model glued to vertical pieces of cardboard, acting as stiffening members. If it is absolutely necessary to have a two element system, a torsion member can be placed in the valley which will carry the unbalanced loads.

Stiffeners can often be hidden on the top surface so they are not in evidence and the shell will appear to spring from the vertical column. At the wall of the building there should also be a stiffener hidden in the wall construction. Provision should be made for drainage of the center valley.