This underground parking garage was completed in 1968. The roof consists of 90 "inverted umbrella" assemblies, each 30 feet by 30 feet and 6 inches thick. The hyperbolic paraboloid thin-shell concrete shells are thicker than usual to support the weight of saturated soil and trees planted above. The architect was E. Wallace Henderson. Structural ( Read more... )

Since I shared the northbound rest area, you probably guessed I'd be showing the southbound. You were right! Same design, same maintenance issues with the roof, only slight differences in the appearance of the property.


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This highway rest area toilet building was built in 1964. The roof is composed of four thin-shell concrete "inverted umbrella" structures; each of which is composed of four hyperbolic paraboloid panels mounted on a center column. Each of those four panels meets the column at its lowest point, extending up to form a horizontal ridge.


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I shared photographs of this large truck garage a couple of years ago. Those were summertime photos, so I went back in winter when the trees were bare to get better shots of the office portion of the building. The building interests me but I also like the setting. It’s in an industrial park that is just south of the interstate highway, but it’s ( Read more... )

From a distance it looks like this building might have a roof of thin-shell concrete hyperbolic paraboloids. A closer look shows the shapes to be decorative rather than functional, and not concrete at all. We arrived early on a sunny morning to get some direct sunlight on the subject.


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The college’s web site describes its historic buildings, but these two gems didn’t make the cut and are not mentioned. The architects and engineers are not known to me at this time. Both were likely built in the early 1960s.

The Schlessman Natatorium has three large thin-shell barrel vaults of lightweight concrete.


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This house is usually called Varner House on the internet, after a later owner of the property. A 1966 article in Architectural Record describes the rooftop feature of the Frank R. Ross house as a concrete bowl. Not just decorative, the bowl also contains the chimney for a central fireplace inside the house. The Ross/Varner house was briefly shown ( Read more... )

Humane Society, Longmont, Colorado ( Read more... )

I haven’t found any documentation for this building, yet. But, the folded-plate roofs certainly look concrete.


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Some of you noticed the odd, box-like protrusion. That’s a large rain spout to allow any water to drain from the roof structure. I suspect they took into account the possible flooding of the reservoir shoreline and wanted something clog resistant.


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