Lightweight Structures

Portable Buildings

Portable buildings are facilities that are required for specific and finite amounts of time and therefore have limited lifespans.

The design of these enclosures varies depending on the time frame that the facility will be in use. A building that needs to be up for one day is a very different design exercise than one which will remain in place for months or even a few years. Short-duration structures need to be deployable, while longer duration ones tend to be relocatable. Technologies for these types of deployable facilities include truck-based hydraulic systems, circus-based self-erecting tent systems, and pneumatic-inflated structures. Demountable facilities suggest an erector set approach where elements are bolted together and later dismantled.

The Lightweight Structures Group has extensive experience with all the above-mentioned systems. Over the past thirty years we have designed and engineered portable buildings for special events, from the four-hour setup of a portable concert hall for the Metropolitan Opera in New York City to the year-long installation of Skyscape at the Millennium Dome site in London.

Leadership + People

Nic Goldsmith
Nic Goldsmith
Founding Director, Lightweight Structures Group
AshishSoni
Ashish Soni
Design Director, Lightweight Structures Group