India is not new to Tensile membrane structures. The historic precedents of this class of structures can be seen in the royal camping tents, the circus tent and the festive pandals that activate any open space as a form of temporary shelter usually during festivities. Modern India's tryst with hi-tech engineering of tensile structures begins at the National Institute of Design (NID) Ahmedabad in 1967. It is a splendid attempt at showcasing collaboration, modernisation, aspiration and the Indian ingenuity of making things as a "kit of parts". It was not built, partly due to funding and bureaucratic reasons.
Year: 1967
Function: National Exhibition Pavilion of the Democratic Republic of India
Design: National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad. Frei Otto with Dashrath Patel and Bernard- Fredrich Romberg.
Dimensions: Diameter at the base = 58m Height = 24m.
Conceived as a summer academy of the country’s science, arts and crafts. After The exhibition, the cable-net was intended to become an envelope for a museum in Ahmedabad, while the exhibition containers were to be used for an international traveling exhibition.
Construction: Shaped earth floor covered by a membrane + cable net. Terraces suspended from central mast and internally tensioned. The transportation containers for the cable net were also a part of the exhibition.
Other than this picture of an early model sourced from Philip Drew's book, do not know if there are more archival images and further details in the public realm. It is an example worthy of examination and all the more relevant in today's world of architecture plagued by trashy "icons" that hurt the eye and the mind with their sterility.
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