Small warehouse with a folded plate roof This structure is a complete box with tilt-up walls. There is a circular wall at the middle of the structure and the folded plates taper to this wall, making the depth at the center half the depth at the ends. The frame supporting the shell is a arch supported on one end by a vertical column. For acoustic purposes, the shell is penetrated by holes leading to acoustic insulation, all covered with a timber false roof. The shells are cast on an initial form and then placed layer on layer with a bond breaker between.
All vertical dimensions are the same.
The basic shape is a paraboloid of one sheet, generated by a non vertical line moving around a cylinder. Within the structure, there is the conventional spherical screen with access to a platform above to see the actual stars. The roof is composed of precast curved elements assembled in a circle. The initial form was sculpted from earth. These structures were ordinarily about 56 feet square, with a slope from the edge to the center of 7 feet.