THE ORIGIN OF THIS WORK
Experts have busied themselves with the idea of a
city under a climatized hull for many years.
The realization of this idea in the climate of
industrialized nations such as the USA, Japan,
Europe, and the USSR presents problems. However,
in extreme climate zones, both cold and hot,
constructing a city under a gigantic roof can be a
very reasonable idea.
In desert regions, shade roofs are of the utmost
importance. In frigid zones, such as the arctic, the
basic requirements for permanent human life are
created only by large climatized shells.
Man can thus open up vast inhospitable regions for
the exploitation of natural resources such os oil,
uranium and diamonds. Covered quarries are
necessary, and with them, the roofed and artificially
warmed city.
The problem was already recognized in the early
1950's. Since at least 1959, it has been known that
large climate hulls spanning several kilometers can be
built with a pneumatically tensioned skin which is
reinforced by a cable net.
After the ideaof light climate hulls with large span
widths was successfully realized at the World’s
Fairs in Montreal (1967) and Osaka (1970), we
considered it necessary to put forth a special project
for cold and desolate regions.
Our intention was not theoretically to cover a certain
city with a roof, nor did we want to create a city
under a hull at any particular place on the earth.
Rather, we wanted to create a realistic conceptual
model = a prototype which is usable in zones with an
arctic climate. We knew that a steel cablenet was
not the only possibility for constructing such a
pneumatically supported skin. It can be done much.
more easily with a net of polyester fiber material .
In the Farbwerke Hoechst, we found a client who for
years has been interested in supporting new projects.
The men of the "fiber" Dittebrand, Hilscher and Rad,
who earlier had solved difficult problems with other
structures, were our partners,
Urban planning and environmental design presented
a completely new problem. Kenzo Tange, Tokyo,
gave our team intensive support in finding solutions
to these questions. The problems were discussed in
Japan with Frei Otto. Toshiyuki Matsumoto, Itsuo
Kamiya and Hiroshi Hasegawa of the Tange team
made proposals on the construction,
A city should be created which is pleasant to live in,
which is wide and open in spite of the enclosing hull.
which is quiet, has clean air and which should be
more like a recreation area than a "gold rush" town.
If the artificial hull is to appear as a great limitless
horizon, the rest of the scale must be small. If the
shell is to be completely invisible, the skin must be
transparent and the weather outside the shell - the
sun, clouds, and the night - should be noticeable.
The interior must have a mild climate, a condition
which occurs in other large hulls of this kind almost
automatically. Furthermore, it was determined that
several quickly accessible external complexes were
necessary. The outside climate should always be
near = both the arctic summer as well as the winter
with its low temperatures.
We would plan to insert a filigree structure of
branches and leaves of high trees between the
ground and the artificial sky. In the large roofed
recreation centers in Japan it has been demonstrated
that under plants and trees, one forgets that he is
indoors. ‘
Above all, we did not want fo design a particular
city in any definite form. A city of this kind must
grow and change of itself like any other. It would
oe senseless to press it into a fixed master plan.
For purposes of clarity and for maintaining adaptability,
a clear outline of the traffic connections and of air
channeling is all that need be established.
The static=constructive design presents no significant
difficulties.
We requested support from Ove Arup & Partners,
~ondon. Along with the Gutbrod office, we had
developed Ove Arup’s large pliable hanging roof in
Mecca, "Structures 3".
Analysis by Peter Rice of Ove Arup & Partners
demonstrated the clear superiority of a polyester
fiber net over one of steel cables with minimal
expansion.
Einar Thorsteinn of the Warmbronn Studio developed
the concept for the model and the report. Bernd
Oleiko took the task of drawing up the comprehensive
report. However, the main work for the project was
in model-building. This work was carried out by
Andrea and Wolf Bienhaus, Christian von Bstticher
and Hans Theune. Difficulties quickly arose in the
scale representation of the roof skin and net as
well as with the right choice of blower.
The photography was done with special care. Zeiss
Ikon built us the special new camera HOLOGON
ULTRAWIDE (focal length 15 mm, 1200) which
provided focal sharpness at the desired depth.
In the inside photography there was the difficulty
of operating the camera in the overpressure model
from the outside, Several photographic sequences
were conducted by Fritz Dressler, Frei Otto ond
[Ise Schmall. The work was supported by the
Institute for Lightweight Structures. Other important
contributions were made by Dieter Blumel (archives),
Ingeborg Kaiser (writing of texts), Berthold Burkhardt
Uta Pankoke (editorial work), Woodson Hand and
Bernd Oleiko (translations).
On 9 April, 1971, the project was presented at a
small press conference. From 22-30 April, it was
shown at the Hannover Fair 71 at the Farbwerke Hoechst
exhibit.
We are convinced that there will be roofed cities
in the arctic before the end of this century. Our
Intention is to show that cities of this kind can already
be realistically planned.
IL 2 (1971
