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Todd Dalland — co-founder and president of FTL Solar and a LEED Green Associate and Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (F.A.I.A.), received the Bruce W. Wodetzki Award at the IFAI Tent Expo 2011, presented by J.D. Howell, former Wodetzki recipient.
This award is the tent rental industry’s highest honor, presented only to individuals who have contributed time, talent and energy to improving the industry for all participants.
“Tents,†says Dalland, ”are lightweight and flexible buildings—temporary architecture. And large, tented special events with portable generators are movable villages and cities—emporary urban planning.”
In the 1980’s and 1990’s Dalland designed and patented several new tension tent designs in the North American tent rental and military tent industries in collaboration with tent manufacturers. Several of these designs have been in continuous production and inventory for more than 20 years. Total cumulative sales figures for tents made from the designs are currently approaching $3 billion. These designs helped North America maintain its worldwide lead in pole tent materials, manufacturing and installation technology—originally established during the golden age of the circus in the early 20th century. Companies representing his designs include Anchor Modules (Bandshell and Century), Eureka Genesis (Elite and Capri), Armbruster Tension Tent and MGPTS for the US Army.
In 1986, Dalland introduced a wind loading criteria interpretation for temporary tents, with the help of Mike Cook of Buro Happold, that met American Society of Civil Engineers standards for buildings, still in use today for pole tents and clearspan tents. This helped give construction industry building code inspectors a way to assess temporary tent and clearspan designs and installations based on established construction industry business standards.
Dalland founded FTL (Future Tents Ltd.) in 1977, with engineer brother Ross Dalland and Ray Gill, and was joined by classmates Nic Goldsmith and Denis Hector in 1978 and 1979 and by Robert Lerner in 1995. FTL’s close association with Buro Happold, the British engineering firm, was instrumental in its development.
FTL has been a member of IFAI since 1979, and has been awarded more than 50 International Achievement Awards. FTL has designed and engineered new circus tents for Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey; Big Apple Circus and Cavalia.
In 1996, Dalland was elevated to Fellow in the A.I.A. (F.A.I.A.) for advancements in the field of design for his work on the many temporary, deployable and permanent tensile structure projects completed by FTL.
In 2007, Dalland and Lerner formed FTL Solar to produce fabrics that make electricity by integrating fabric with flexible photovoltaic cells.