Bahadurgarh Auditorium Tensile Structure

An atrium ceiling has an architectural brief rather than a weather one. The space needs a finished top surface that looks deliberate from the floor below, hides the structure and services in the roof, and — if there is glazing above — turns direct sun into comfortable, diffuse light. A tensioned-fabric ceiling does all three at once, and does it with almost no added weight on the building.

Ekra Decor’s scope covered the membrane element end to end: the 3D design of the faceted geometry, the supporting and bracing steel, fabrication of both, and installation at height inside the building. Because the archive entry carries no area or programme figures, this page keeps to describing the structure.

A single smooth membrane reads as a sag or a dome; faceting it — breaking the surface into flat or gently curved angled panels — gives a crisper, more architectural result and lets the ceiling follow a shape the designer has chosen rather than the one gravity would give. Each facet is still individually tensioned so the fabric stays taut and wrinkle-free.

The steel behind it does two things: it sets out the fold lines and it carries the whole assembly across the atrium to the perimeter. Here that steel is deliberately left exposed, so it is detailed to be looked at. An internal ceiling like this is a light structure — the loads are the fabric pre-stress and its own weight plus an allowance for maintenance access — but the connections back into the building frame still have to be designed properly, and Ekra Decor works to IS 800 for the steelwork.

If the atrium is toplit, the membrane is chosen for its translucency so it acts as a large diffuser, spreading the daylight and cutting glare for the floors and walkways below.

The bracing steel is fabricated and finished in the workshop and the membrane is cut to the facet pattern and welded into panels off-site. Inside the building, the crew works from access platforms or towers: the steel goes up first and is aligned to the setting-out, then each fabric panel is lifted, clamped to its edges and tensioned.

Working inside an occupied or nearly finished building means tight coordination — protecting the floors below, sharing access with other trades and keeping the work zone contained — but the job is weather-independent once the roof above is closed.

The atrium gained a sculptural fabric ceiling that closes off the roof void, gives the space a strong finished top, and — where daylight comes through — delivers it as a soft, even glow rather than glare. Tensioned-fabric ceilings stay taut for years and only need occasional cleaning.

Ekra Decor designs internal tensile membrane features and auditorium and atrium ceilings alongside its outdoor work. See more on the projects page, or read about tensile structures in Bahadurgarh.