Publisher: Spector Books 2017 ISBN: 9783959051927 Format: Paperback 255pp, 330x220mm
The temporary multipurpose hall built by Frei Otto and Carlfried Mutschler for the 1975 Federal Horticultural Show in Mannheim ranks as the world's largest wooden grid shell construction. Although it was put under a preservation order in 1998, an international debate is now underway to discuss whether to demolish or maintain the structure.
The roof is the most complex part of the structure which required sophisticated modelling, measuring techniques, scientific observation and technical skill — a form of manual and intellectual self-alignment, in which the process of conceptualisation also succeeded in triggering a collective discourse on the future of society. Drawing on materials from the previously unpublished archives of Mutschler and Otto, this book presents the history of this experimental building for the first time.