Prefabrication of concrete shells

Abstract

The Fifties and Sixties of the previous century were the golden era of thin concrete shell roofs. Two characteristics that made these thin shells very popular are the strength, and the architectural exciting forms. After this golden era the construction of these thin concrete shells has stagnated. Reasons for this stagnation could be found in the difficulties that had to be encountered in the realization of these structures. One of the attempts to make shells more often build is with the prefabrication of the shell. But not many free form shell structures in prefabricated concrete have been build. One of the reasons for this is that the design and production process of free formed shells in prefabricated concrete is not efficient enough to make the construction of these shells feasible in most cases.