The US Pavilion built at Osaka World Expo in 1970 first achieved the combination of glass fiber membrane reinforced by cables covering over 10,000 sqm of plan area.   The structure was designed and engineered by the Geiger Berger Associates, USA and it dramatically changed the ordinary concept of membrane structure and has provided great impact on the development of membrane structures.

At that time, the membrane material was polyester fabric coated with PVC, therefore, mechanical properties such as strength, durability and heat resistance was not able to conform to the requirement for permanent building material.  NASA, USA found an unexpected solution to the problem.  The spacesuit developed by NASA used super fine fiber glass (維特龍).  The fiberglass was woven into membrane, coated with PTFE called “Teflon” and turned to become the excellent material for architectural membrane with high strength, fire resistance and durability.   As glass fiber and PTFE are extremely stable material, this membrane can be used for permanent usage used as building material.  The first PTFE membrane roof was built at Lavern University Gymnasium in 1973 and as of today the material serves without damages after 35 years.

Meanwhile, With the experience at Osaka World Expo, Geiger Berger Associates designed number of large span structures exceeding 150m in diameter for baseball stadium and gymnasium.  Silver Dome (89,000sqm), BC Place Stadium (40,000sqm) and RCA Dome (30,000sqm) are the typical projects designed by Geiger Berger Associates.  By 1980, the trend on such large span membrane structure developed in U.S.A expanded towards other countries.  Tokyo Dome was completed in 1988 along with new Japanese Building Code allowing membrane structure as permanent building material, followed by Akita Dome, Izumo Dome, and Miyazaki Dome.   The membrane structure has become a new category of architecture.   Along with developments in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia and China also started to build large scale membrane structures.  World Cup Stadium in Seoul in South Korea, Taoyuan Dome in Taiwan and KL Stadium in Malaysia were built successfully.  In China after Shaghai Stadium with 80,000 seating capacity was completed, membrane structure has been applied in variety of sports facilities through out the country.  Along with the economic development and improvement of living standard in Asia, the demand on public sports space and facilities are increasing triggered by the significant events such as World Cup and Asian Games.

New building materials are constantly being developed these days.   The membrane material has established its position as one of the new material that has been broadly used in the construction industry in recent years. The comfortable indoor environment and unique form of design created by this new technology has drawn attention from variety of medias.   The variety of membrane material, PTFE and PVDF, TiO2 and PVC, should fulfill client’s needs depending upon the locations, applications, required durability, and budget.