A retractable roof for a building having a supporting frame and a high structure extending vertically above the supporting frame. The roof has at least one structure section with first and second panels. The first panel is hingeably mounted on the supporting frame at a proximal hinge and the second panel is hingeably mounted on the first panel at a distal hinge. A distal end of the second panel is suspended to the high structure with a distal cable connected to a distal motorized winch. A tackle member connects to both first and second panels adjacent the proximal hinge and the distal end, respectively, and includes a tackle wire that forms a wire side of a triangular cross-sectional shape with the first and second panels. The tackle wire connects to a winch mechanism to control a length of the wire side.

A retractable roof for a building having a supporting frame and a high structure extending vertically above the supporting frame. The roof has at least one structure section with first and second panels. The first panel is hingeably mounted on the supporting frame at a proximal hinge and the second panel is hingeably mounted on the first panel at a distal hinge. A distal end of the second panel is suspended to the high structure with a distal cable connected to a distal motorized winch. A tackle member connects to both first and second panels adjacent the proximal hinge and the distal end, respectively, and includes a tackle wire that forms a wire side of a triangular cross-sectional shape with the first and second panels. The tackle wire connects to a winch mechanism to control a length of the wire side.

A prestressed concrete roof for a cylindrical tank is provided with a plurality of prestressed concrete (PC) steel members which are disposed side by side in a circumferential direction at an outer circumferential side of a discoid roof and each of which extends in a radial direction, in which the plurality of PC steel members are made up of both arm parts of folded PC steel members that are folded so as to be open to the outer circumferential side of the roof in a plan view.

A transparent or translucent composite material, an architectural apparatus comprising the transparent or translucent composite material, and a method of manufacturing the composite material are described. The transparent or translucent composite material having a core film comprising PET, a first and second ETFE film on the outer portion, adhered via an adhesive layer configured to be fire-retardant and/or light-absorbent. The core film may have on one or both sides a solar control layer configured to block light, provide color, or other properties to the composite material.

The present invention provides a method for prefabricating, transporting, and rapidly assembling a portable, rigid, dome-shaped structure, with the structural integrity to enable the suspension of extensive hardware and supplies. Said structure would be shaped for acoustic purposes, extremely durable, and allow for extensive climate control. Said structure would be able to be fabricated in a wide range of sizes and shipped to remote locations.

An architectural building block including a generally triangular block having an outer wall, an inner wall disposed in substantially parallel configuration with respect to the outer wall and three side walls, each adjoining the outer wall and the inner wall. One of the side walls includes dual inverse mirror planes and each of the other two of which includes a single inverse mirror plane. At least one the side walls is configured to be positionable so as to mate with a side wall of an abuttingly disposed block, whereby curved structures may be constructed from a plurality of such blocks to form a dihedral angle between each set of two blocks. In one embodiment, the inner wall further includes at least one depression disposed on the inner wall of the block.

An architectural building block including a generally triangular block having an outer wall, an inner wall disposed in substantially parallel configuration with respect to the outer wall and three side walls, each adjoining the outer wall and the inner wall. One of the side walls includes dual inverse mirror planes and each of the other two of which includes a single inverse mirror plane. At least one the side walls is configured to be positionable so as to mate with a side wall of an abuttingly disposed block, whereby curved structures may be constructed from a plurality of such blocks to form a dihedral angle between each set of two blocks. In one embodiment, the inner wall further includes at least one depression disposed on the inner wall of the block.

A foldable tubular construct/element with one rigid degree of freedom is of a tubular construction formed by a number of single layered annular units which are connected in sequence; each single layered annular unit is of a prism having N ridge lines; two adjacent prisms each having N sides are connected to each other by sharing a polygon with N sides formed on an intersection plane; each prism with N ridge lines is composed of N rigid planar quadrilateral facets; two adjacent single layered annular units comprise N spherical mechanisms formed by the intersections of only four planar quadrilateral facets at each apex; the polygon having N sides formed in the intersection plane of the two adjacent single layered annular units is a planar polygon with an arbitrary number of sides greater than for a triangle; the ridge lines of each prism having N ridge lines are parallel to each other; the connecting ridge lines of the tubular element are coplanar; when the polygon having N sides formed in the intersection plane of the two adjacent single layered annular units is a line-symmetric polygon of even number of sides with at least one diagonal symmetric axis, the plane in which connecting ridge lines of the tubular element are located is perpendicular to one diagonally symmetric axis.

An enclosing structure (1) comprising a backfill (2) and a roof (3), wherein the roof rests on the backfill and is attached to it.

A relocateable wind resistant modular ISO container structure preferably includes a plurality of ISO containers, two modular end walls and a modular roof. An upper ISO container is secured to a lower ISO container with a plurality of twist lock connectors and a plurality of container bridge fittings to form a plurality of ISO blocks. The modular roof includes a plurality of arch panels and a plurality of arch connectors. The plurality of arch panels are attached to each other with fasteners to form a roof panel. The plurality of arch connectors are attached to opposing ends of the roof panel to form a modular roof. A gutter may be secured to opposing ends of the modular roof. The end wall is retained between the first and second ISO blocks. The end wall is preferably fabricated from a metal corrugated panel or a reinforced metal panel.