Thin-Shell Concrete

Copyright © 2021 Scott D. Murdock


Alabama Coliseum
1555 Federal Drive, Montgomery, Alabama
32-24-11 N, 86-16-16 W

Structural Engineer: Ammann & Whitney

Architect: Richard Adams for Sherlock Smith & Adams

Builder: J.A. Jones Construction Co.

Configuration: Cylindrical short barrel vault shell with exterior supporting ribs

Measurements: Shell spans 286 feet and is 3.5 inches thick

Purpose: Arena

Year: 1950

This is a large thin-shell structure by Ammann & Whitney, an engineering firm that gave Roberts & Schaefer competition in the years after World War II. This building uses a barrel vault roof cut into a circular plan, giving the supporting ribs an odd, spiderlike appearance.

General view 1 of Alabama Coliseum showing the thin-shell concrete roof in October, 2018.
General view 2 of Alabama Coliseum showing the thin-shell concrete roof in October, 2018.
General view 3 of Alabama Coliseum showing the thin-shell concrete roof in October, 2018.
General view 4 of Alabama Coliseum showing the thin-shell concrete roof in October, 2018.
General view 5 of Alabama Coliseum showing the thin-shell concrete roof in October, 2018.
General view 6 of Alabama Coliseum showing the thin-shell concrete roof in October, 2018.
General view 7 of Alabama Coliseum showing the thin-shell concrete roof in October, 2018.
The author visited in October 2018.

References

American Society of Civil Engineers. "Design of Cylindrical Concrete Shell Roofs." ASCE-Manuals of Engineering Practice-No. 31, 1952: 9-10.

"Architects Name 15 'Significant' Buildings." Montgomery Advertiser-Journal, February 2, 1958.

Canada Cement Company, Limited. "Roofs with a New Dimension." Portland Cement Association, 1959: 16.

Concrete Reinforcing Steel Institute. "230 days saved by using reinforced concrete." Architectural Record (November, 1950): 72.

Keller, William B. "Architecture for Community and Spectacle: The Roofed Arena in North America, 1853-1968" (PhD diss., University of Delaware, 2007), 199-102, accessed August 24, 2017, http://repository.upenn.edu/library_papers/88.

"Old Romans Had Nothing On Us When It Comes To A Coliseum." Montgomery Advertiser, October 18, 1953.

Oravas, Gunhard-AEstius. "Thin Shells: Engineering Fitness and Architectural Form." Architectural Record (April 1960): 218-19.

Raafat, Aly Ahmed. Reinforced Concrete in Architecture. New York: Reinhold Publishing Corporation, 1958: 141, 144.

Salvadori, Mario G. "Thin Shells: Article 3: Examples Here and Abroad." Architectural Record (November, 1954): 217.

Weitze, Karen J. Cold War Infrastructure for Strategic Air Command: The Bomber Mission. Langley Air Force Base, VA: United States Air Force, Air Combat Command, 1999: 32.

Whitney, Charles S. "Reinforced Concrete Thin Shell Structures." Journal of the American Concrete Institute 24, no. 6 (February 1953): 521-536.


Updated April 18, 2021