20 October 2009 The School of Engineering at the American University in Dubai (AUD) hosted recently the Second International Symposium on Architectural Membranes (ISAM 2009), in collaboration with Verseidag Indutex GmbH – Germany, a worldwide manufacturer of textile architecture and tensile fabrics. The two-day symposium included presentations from prominent international speakers and was attended by students and faculty members from the AUD community, alongside professionals and leaders from the tensile structures industry, and construction and engineering sectors in the region.

The objectives of ISAM 2009 were to provide information on fundamental properties and present the state-of-the-art in textile roof design and optimization. The symposium featured some of the best-suited techniques to realize complex architectural designs using tensile structures and eco-friendly architectural fabrics.

On the significance of such conferences, Dr. Elias Saqan, Chair and Associate Professor of Civil Engineering at the AUD School of Engineering said that the symposium “was a great opportunity for our students to hear and learn from renowned authorities on the subject of tensile structures and from the designers of some of the world’s largest projects of architectural membranes." He added that the goal of AUD is to provide students with such unique opportunities for professional growth through strong ties with the industry, and to expose the students "to the latest advances in the field of civil engineering.”

The symposium highlighted the theoretical bases for structural analysis and design necessary for efficient and robust computer implementation, and presented the modern design code for tensile fabric structures. It also touched upon the technical properties, designs, and case studies of tensile structures.

Commenting on the educational facet of the seminar, Mr. Mohammad Bahsh, Duraskin Segment Regional Manager and member of the ISAM organizing committee, stressed that the syposium offered a venue for participants around the region "to meet in one place [...] and exchange ideas and own experiences." He indicated that this event was the first in the Middle East to focus on the technical aspects of architectural membrane design. "Our speakers are of outstanding quality and the Symposium was deliberately planned with a great deal of emphasis on challenging case studies and practical issues,” added Bahsh, who chaired the organizing committee.

Among the symposium’s prominent speakers from the UAE were Gaby Awad of SAS Fabric Industries, Maqsood Ahmed of Affan Innovative Structures. Speakers from Germany included Dr. Robert Off of the Institute for Membrane and Shell Technologies, Dr. Heidrun Bögner-Balz of Laboratorium Blum, Dr. Dieter Ströbel of Technet, and representatives from Tritthardt Engineering, CenoTech, GMP Architects, and Hightex. Industry practitioners and academicians such as Gerry d'Anza of Baku Group and Leila Araghian of Iran's BIBA Research Center covered a broad range topics in their presentations, such as environmental and mechanical properties of architectural fabrics, design and analysis software, and case studies. A focus group session was also held to discuss future directions in analysis and design.

During the second day of the symposium, both professionals and students attended practical sessions on manufacturing tensile structure models and software applications. “[Participants] had a chance to have hands-on experience in building models of tensile structures and to learn about the design software packages used for such structures”, said Dr. Saqan. Many attendees saw great value in such a focused two-day event and requested that events of a similar nature be organized in the future. Ahmed Shalaby, Area Manager at Masy International in Bahrain, asserted that the seminar was well organized, and added that “everybody benefited from the lectures delivered by valuable experts and professionals in the field of tensile structures. The interaction between people of different nationalities and professional backgrounds – from all over the world – was also another extraordinary feature of the seminar.” Other participants commented that many of the presentations were evocative and would help practicing engineers and architects to think outside the box when considering solutions to tensile structures and architectural roofing problems.