Guides & References
Everything we have written down about specifying, costing, engineering and owning a tensile structure — the material guides, the load cases, the comparisons and the reference pages, in one place.
Planning and cost
What a structure costs, what drives the number, and what you have to settle before anyone can quote properly.
What a tensile structure costs
The variables that actually move the price — span, clear height, wind zone, soil, membrane grade — and why a rate per square foot means very little.
Read more → GuideMembrane price by material
How PVC, PVDF, PTFE-coated glass and ETFE compare on cost, and what you are buying as the figure rises.
Read more → GuideHow long a tensile structure lasts
Service life by material, what shortens it, and the difference between a warranty period and a working life.
Read more → ReferenceDo you need permission for a tensile structure?
Building permission in India is administered locally. What usually decides the answer, and which documents an authority asks for.
Read more →Design and form
The shapes a membrane can take, why it takes them, and what each one suits.
Canopy types, by form and by material
Cantilever, conical, hypar, barrel vault, ridge-and-valley and retractable — and which placement each one suits.
Read more → GuideTensile architecture: form follows tension
Why the forms are not styling, how a shape is form-found, and where an architect's intent meets the equilibrium surface.
Read more → ListTwenty tensile structure designs
Built examples of each form family, collected in one place.
Read more → ListFifteen uses of tensile structures
Where a column-free, daylit, weather-protected span earns its place, sector by sector.
Read more →Materials
Four membrane families with genuinely different lifespans, light and fire behaviour. Start with the selection guide.
Choosing a membrane: the selection guide
The full decision path across PVC, PVDF, PTFE and ETFE, with a comparison matrix and a ten-step specification checklist.
Read more → MaterialPTFE-coated glass fibre
Non-combustible, self-cleaning, the longest service life — and the usual answer over a large public space.
Read more → MaterialPVC-coated polyester
The economical workhorse: flame-retardant, widely used, shorter-lived than the coated-glass options.
Read more → MaterialPVDF-lacquered PVC
A surface finish rather than a base cloth. What the lacquer changes, and what it does not.
Read more → MaterialETFE film and cushion systems
A film, not a fabric: it carries no span of its own, and transmits close to the daylight of glass.
Read more → ReferenceHow much light comes through a membrane
Transmission by material, what each feels like underneath, and why daylight and solar heat are separate questions.
Read more →Engineering
The load cases and details that decide whether a structure survives its site. Worth reading before comparing quotations.
Wind load, and why uplift governs
How the load is calculated under IS 875 Part 3, and how to tell from a quotation whether it was actually done.
Read more → ReferenceSnow and cold climates
Snow is a geometry problem before it is a strength one. What changes in the form, the steel and the foundations.
Read more → GuideFoundation design
Why footings are sized for uplift rather than weight, and why a tensile foundation is usually larger than people expect.
Read more → ReferenceFire rating and classification
What DIN 4102 B1, EN 13501-1 and NFPA 701 mean, which membrane is non-combustible, and what certificate to ask for.
Read more → GuideWhat a tensile structure is made of
Membrane, steel, cables and fittings as one load path, from the fabric down to the bolt.
Read more →Owning one
What happens after handover, and what the cover actually depends on.
Maintenance and repair
The schedule, what cleaning method to use, what to never do to a tensioned membrane, and when repair beats replacement.
Read more → ListTwelve maintenance checks
The inspection list, in the order a surveyor would work through it.
Read more → ReferenceWhat a warranty actually covers
One year on structure and workmanship, five to fifteen on the membrane by grade — and an honest account of the exclusions.
Read more →Compared with the alternatives
Like-for-like against the options a tensile structure is usually weighed against.
Tensile vs metal sheet roofing
Span, daylight, heat, noise, service life and what each costs to own.
Read more → ComparisonTensile vs an RCC roof
Weight, build time, span and reversibility — and when concrete is simply the right answer.
Read more → ComparisonTensile vs shade net
Why a net is not a roof, and where that distinction starts to matter.
Read more → ComparisonTensile vs shade sail vs polycarbonate
Three very different products often quoted against each other.
Read more →The record
Who builds these, and what has actually been built.
Ten notable tensile structure projects
Ten from our own project archive, written up with what each one had to solve.
Read more → ListTwenty tensile structure manufacturers in India
A survey of the market, for anyone drawing up a shortlist.
Read more → PortfolioAll 61 documented projects
The full portfolio across 36 cities, each with the brief, the design response and the result.
Read more →Longer reads on the blog
Case studies from the project archive and straight explanations of how these structures get designed, engineered and installed — including what goes wrong, what a site survey really involves, and the ten questions worth asking before signing.
Read the blog →Let’s Build Your Structure
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