The appearance of Mercedes-Benz, smart, AMG and Maybach was concentrated on the inside of Frankfurt’s festival hall, which had its 100. anniversary this year. With its once visionary steel structure it was Europe’s biggest self-supporting hall.

A huge membrane of mesh fabric is spanned over the exhibition room and used for light and projection.

It consists of 110 panels in which are included 27 lens-shaped cuts for the spotlights to illuminate the cars.

A steel cable spans the membrane to the outer border of the existing steel structure. With the help of 2 rings of 10 and 8,5 m Ø and a pneumatic „membrane ball“ with 13m Ø, a surface with different biaxial curvature is formed.

formTL
design, structural design, tender documents, load coordination, workshop drawings fabric

client
Daimler AG

architect
Kauffmann Theilig & Partner/Ostfildern

climate
Transsolar/Stuttgart

light
TLD/Wendlingen

realisation / GU
Ambrosius Messebau

GU Membrane
Gerriets

membrane manufacturer
Canobbio

installation
Gerriets + Seilpartner

awards
ADAM award 2010 in Bronze,
ADC Award 2010 in Bronze
One Show Design 2010 Merit Award

photos
Andreas Keller

size
5.030 m²

membrane
Verseidag B3704

lense shaped spotlight openings
Ferrari Batyline XP5