FOLDED PLATE DOME - TAPERED ELEMENTS
This dome makes use of tapered folded plates slanting to the center in the form of a tent. It can be built so that each of the triangular elements is self supporting during construction except for possibly a single shore at the crown. The forms, therefore, can be re-used many times in contrast to the usual dome structure. To obtain natural light, the top may be cut off and a ring inserted with a skylight. The arch thrusts are taken through this ring and the difficult forming of the narrow plates at the crown is avoided.
The acoustics of this dome should be better than the domes of revolution previously shown because the reflections of sound do not focus at a point.
The structure shown here is a circular thrust ring. If the structure is large, there would be very high bending stresses due to the curvature, and the ring would be very large.