General information

  • Home page
    http://www.canobbio.com
  • Location address
    NEUCHATEL
  • Location country
    Switzerland
  • Year of construction
    2001
  • Name of the client/building owner
    Expo 02
  • Function of building
    Exhibition
  • Degree of enclosure
    Open structure
  • Climatic zone
    Mediterranean - mild winters, dry hot summers
  • Primary function of the tensile structure
    • Rain protection
    • Sun protection

Description

A round pebble smooth by the water action. This is the image the designers wanted to give to the works placed on the lake. In technical terms, the galet are huge pneumatic structures composed of two reinforced PVC membranes anchored on a steel ring. Between the membranes it is blown air at very low pressure.


Description of the environmental conditions

The Galet project, as the majority of the structures built for the Swiss Expo '02 had to care about the following aspects and minimise the environmental aspect: the use of the ares either for their construction and their dismantel was of two years, while the exposition itself lasted from May to November 2002. There has been therefore the necessity to use large areas for a short time. We have tried to minimise the environmental impact due to the occupation of common exhisting areas, though temporary, which could create few problems to the already difficult balance of the modern cities. This problem has been solved by using exposition areas on the lake by building great platforms on wooden supporting piles. For the great quantity of materials necessary to build those covered areas it has been asked to use easy recyclable materials. The main purpose of the Galet is to assure covered areas protected by the rain and the sun to the exposition areas. The underneath buildings of the Galet have an independent climatic control. The architectural appearance is not less important, as a matter of fact the Galet must remembered as the symbols of the Expo '02. Expo '02 paid a lot of attention to minimise the environmental impact foreseeing besides the material a serious of obligations given to the builders to use the most efficient as possible means of production and transport in order to reduce the dispersion of energy and pollution agents.

Material of the cover

  • Cable-net/Fabric/Hybrid/Foil
    Fabric
  • Type (code)
    type IV and type V
  • Material Fabric/Foil
    Polyester
  • Material coating
    PVC
  • Weight (g/m2)
    1450

Main dimensions and form

  • Covered surface (m2)
    20000
  • Maximum height (m)
    30
  • Total length (m)
    103
  • Total width (m)
    24
  • Form single element
    Synclastic
  • Form entire structure
    Synclastic

Duration of use

  • Temporary or permanent structure
    Temporary
  • Design lifespan in years
    00-05

Editor