Stress-Ribbon Roof Structures of the New Stuttgart Trade Fair Exhibition Halls

The New Stuttgart Trade Fair (Neue Messe Stuttgart) represents one of the most outstanding recent construction projects in Germany in terms of architectural concept, infrastructure planning, and structural engineering. The trade fair complex mainly consists of eight exhibition halls, a convention center, and two car parking bridges crossing the motorway. This paper will deal with the load bearing structures of the seven Standard Exhibition Halls (10000 m 2 each; Fig. 1) and the Grand Exhibition Hall (25000 m 2 ), both being a major contribution to the architectural concept. After a brief overview of the project, the principle of the stress-ribbon with regard to its application for long-span roofs will be outlined. Thereafter, the structural systems of the two types of exhibition halls will be illustrated. Here, the main focus will be on topics and details which represent innovations developed specially for these structures. Finally, several aspects concerning fabrication and erection will be covered.