Beginnings

July 1, 2010 | Bruce N. Wright

Bail ring (bail ring) n. A ring or hoop used to evenly distribute and transfer the weight of a canvas roof from the fabric to its mast peak, such as for a circus tent. [Middle English baile, beyl handle, prob. from Old Norse, beygla, from begja = Old English béξan to bend.] Also called a mid-ring.

The technology of fabric structures has evolved over the past 60 years (into a unique and specialized form of engineering and architecture) with its own jargon and "language" of details.

There are at least three historical technologies that have been adapted to make the parts and details of a fabric structure: sailing ships with their "rigging" (a term that still applies to the cables and hardware of current fabric structures); the Arab "black tent" of the nomadic tribes of north Africa and Middle East (the form and tensile principles of tensioned fabric developed by the Bedouin by the eighteenth century are transferable); and circus tents from the nineteenth century (with their fabric clamping and tensioning mechanisms adapted to contemporary applications)

The circus tent ("chapiteau" in Europe, "big top" in North America) is where we get "bail ring" a key element in the design of tension structures used to evenly distribute the stresses that converge on the peak of a mast support, thereby relieving the fabric from excess forces and preventing tearing.

As with all technology transfers, the form and words to describe the new technology are adapted from a previous technology. Thus, "horseless carriage" first described what became an automobile; a mast (from sailing ships) described (and continues to describe) a vertical structural support for tension structures.

Fabric architecture technology is continuing to evolve and adapt new materials and absorb new technologies. Today air-inflated structures (think the 2008 Beijing Olympics National Aquatics Center "Watercube" with its ETFE pillows) are incorporating pneumatic technologies and detailing, and nanotechnology driven chemistries and engineering are creating new forms of architecture (e.g., fabric coatings that "eat" pollution, breakdown grime or convert movement [mechanical energy] into electrical currents). All of these will need terminology to describe them. The fun is just beginning.

Bruce N. Wright, AIA, is the editor of Fabric Architecture.

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