If you have ever flown a kite or been sailing, you will have felt the power of wind. Those forces, along with the loads imposed by snow when applied to tensile fabric architecture require complex thought and specialist expertise.
Tensile fabric structures fall into two types: those that transfer loads into adjoining structures and those that contain their loads within their boundary. In our studio, we generate computer models with load analysis calculations and tensile structure engineering criteria. These calculations show us loads on the canopy, which determines stress on the structure. With this information, we factor in:
As designers, we like to push the boundaries of what fabric can do – we do that by being masterful at tensile structure engineering. We always comply with current Building Design Codes and work to the 1 in 100 year worst case predicted weather condition in the local region where we are installing. When engineering tensile fabric structures, we take into consideration: