A publicly accessible urban beach entertainment complex is disclosed, with a man-made tropical, pristine-clear lagoon as the centerpiece of the complex, with surrounding entertainment, educational, sports, and commercial facilities, the complex having controlled public access and providing the look and feel of a tropical beach with clear waters and sandy beaches. In addition a method for efficiently utilizing facilities and land that are vacant, underutilized, have limited uses, or that are contiguous to or nearby recreational, educational, sports, or commercial venues is disclosed. The method providing a publicly accessible urban beach entertainment complex with a centerpiece man-made tropical-style pristine-clear lagoon. The method allows for generating revenue and increasing efficiency by pairing vacant sites, underutilized sites, limited use land, or sites that are contiguous to entertainment, educational, sports, and/or commercial venues with urban beach entertainment complexes. The complex preferably has a controlled public access, thereby allowing entrance upon payment of a fee.

A clearspan structure including component systems, and methods of forming a clearspan structure including component systems, for mitigating hazards to personnel or equipment from explosions, fires, toxic material release, and other hazards in hazardous locations. The exemplary clearspan structure is also capable of withstanding environmental conditions such as snow loads and wind. The exemplary clearspan structure is, for example, a tent or fabric structure which includes a plurality of frame members forming a support system for the clearspan structure, and fabric roof portions and walls for enclosing the clearspan structure.

A clearspan structure including component systems, and methods of forming a clearspan structure including component systems, for mitigating hazards to personnel or equipment from explosions, fires, toxic material release, and other hazards in hazardous locations. The exemplary clearspan structure is also capable of withstanding environmental conditions such as snow loads and wind. The exemplary clearspan structure is, for example, a tent or fabric structure which includes a plurality of frame members forming a support system for the clearspan structure, and fabric roof portions and walls for enclosing the clearspan structure.

The disclosed technology provides a module useful in constructing an energy efficient, durable building structure, the module including walls to form a vacuous, sealed chamber substantially void of structural elements, materials and gaseous molecules. One or more ribs are affixed to or formed integral with an exterior surface of the exterior wall of the module, extending the width of the module. The disclosed technology further provides a vacuum apparatus which may be incorporated in communication with the vacuous, sealed chamber, for creating and maintaining a vacuum within the module. A method of controlling heat transfer within a structure is also provided, utilizing the modules as herein disclosed, each module being coupled with a vacuum apparatus in communication with the vacuous, sealed chamber, for creating and maintaining a vacuum within the module.

The subject matter described herein includes a tube for use in creating a support for a roof line of a structure. The tube comprises an inner flexible bladder, a seamless woven cylinder formed from fibers woven to form a seamless tubular arch shape when the cylinder is inflated, the cylinder engaged with the flexible bladder, and an outer weather shield coating engaged with the cylinder, wherein, in operation a plurality of tubes are used to form the roof line of a structure to define a housing for containing an article, wherein the plurality of tubes maintains flexibility so that the plurality of tubes can be inflated, deflated, and re-deployed.

A system of structural interlocking panels for forming disaster-resistant buildings, comprising: a hollow, internally-braced, vacuum-insulated panel shell having at least two interlocking sides, the first side having a convex-inward single-curvature, the second side having a straight surface, the third side having a straight surface with at least one integral tongue with at least one head extending vertically-upward for receiving a complementary groove of a first side of an adjacent panel. Panels are thus vertically slide-locked along panel sides and faces, thereby triggering automatic snap joints that prevent backward movement of the panel. The system can assemble spheres, cylinders, toroids, tetrahedrons, flat shapes, and irregular shapes.

A system of structural interlocking panels for forming disaster-resistant buildings, comprising: a hollow, internally-braced, vacuum-insulated panel shell having at least two interlocking sides, the first side having a convex-inward single-curvature, the second side having a straight surface, the third side having a straight surface with at least one integral tongue with at least one head extending vertically-upward for receiving a complementary groove of a first side of an adjacent panel. Panels are thus vertically slide-locked along panel sides and faces, thereby triggering automatic snap joints that prevent backward movement of the panel. The system can assemble spheres, cylinders, toroids, tetrahedrons, flat shapes, and irregular shapes.

Fabric structures with raceways and methods of making same are disclosed. In some embodiments, the fabric structures are air supported structures that form an enclosure via internal pressurized air. The air supported structures include an outer membrane that defined an outer surface of the structure. The air supported structures further include a plurality of inner segments formed of tab members coupled to and extending from the outer membrane toward the interior of the enclosure, and at least one inner liner panel coupled to and extending between adjacent tab members spaced inwardly from the outer membrane to form at least one air pocket therebetween. An attachment portion of the tab members extends inwardly past the at least one inner liner panel into the enclosure and forms at least one hardware attachment point.

A building based on a large-space structure body and a freestanding external envelope structure and a construction method, wherein the building comprises a structure body composed of a vertical-structure reinforced concrete member, a reinforced concrete girder and a reinforced concrete slab, and a freestanding combined external envelope system externally hung in a periphery of the structure body; and the structure body is made of a prefabricated combined reinforcement cage member poured with concrete, the prefabricated combined reinforcement cage member is combined and assembled by a prefabricated vertical-structure reinforcement cage member, a prefabricated girder reinforcement cage member and a prefabricated slab reinforcement cage member, and the prefabricated vertical-structure reinforcement cage member is a prefabricated shear wall reinforcement cage member or a prefabricated column reinforcement cage member.

A building based on a large-space structure body and a freestanding external envelope structure and a construction method, wherein the building comprises a structure body composed of a vertical-structure reinforced concrete member, a reinforced concrete girder and a reinforced concrete slab, and a freestanding combined external envelope system externally hung in a periphery of the structure body; and the structure body is made of a prefabricated combined reinforcement cage member poured with concrete, the prefabricated combined reinforcement cage member is combined and assembled by a prefabricated vertical-structure reinforcement cage member, a prefabricated girder reinforcement cage member and a prefabricated slab reinforcement cage member, and the prefabricated vertical-structure reinforcement cage member is a prefabricated shear wall reinforcement cage member or a prefabricated column reinforcement cage member.