An Elementary Research On Membrane Structures With Their Influences On Architectural Design And Expression

The history of membrane structures is about 50 years, but they are still younger than the other traditional structures, such as the concrete structure. With the development of these new structures, the vocabulary of architecture becomes more plentiful and the span is even larger. This article collects the materials about the development of them, in order to find out the law of it, and give a forecast of them. Chapter One gives the definition of membrane structure and explains it.Chapter Two is about the source of membrane structures, as well as the layout and functional character of the traditional tents. It summarizes the contribution of several important architects and civil engineers, such as R.B. Fuller, Frei Otto, David H. Geiger, who contributed to the development of membrane structures both in theory and in practice.Chapter Three summarizes the basic structural system of tensile membrane structure, pneumatic structure and cable dome, as well as their basic theory. It also makes a short introduction of the architectural types comparing to the different kinds of the membrane structures. According to the market survey in the application of membrane structures among the architects, the problems in the progress of them are analyzed.Chapter Four tells the architecture of the membrane structures with the brief introduction of cases.Chapter Five is about the general situation of membrane structures in different countries and districts. At the end of the article, the future of the architecture of membrane structures is described, especially in China.