ABSTRACT
THE PRINCIPLE OF the ribbed shell is a rational
development of the original Frei Otto foldable lattice
shell. In their multi-layer form, the separate laths of
lattice gridshells have to be linked by some form of shear
connection so that the parallel layers work together,
in particular, to resist local bending in the surface. This
shear connection has traditionally been supplied by
inserting short intermittent lengths of lath between the
gridshell nodes following deployment.
