Dr S. Alireza Behnejad

The present proceedings contain a collection of 330 papers on various aspects of analysis, design and construction of spatial structures such as gridshells, barrel vaults, domes, towers, retractable systems and tension structures. These papers were written by 763 authors, representing a total of 44 countries for presentation at the seventh International Conference on Spatial Structures. The International Conference on Spatial Structures has been organised and held on five previous occasions by the Spatial Structures Research Centre of the University of Surrey in 1966, 1975, 1984, 1993 and 2002, and in 2011 in collaboration with the International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering (IABSE) and International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures (IASS). The seventh conference was hosted by the University of Surrey from the UK during 23rd – 27th August 2021; it was combined with the 2020 annual symposium of the IASS. The conference was named IASS 2020/21 – Surrey 7 and its strapline was “Inspiring the next generation”. The planning and delivery of the conference had a long history: beginning in January 2016, and latterly very heavily affected by the worldwide Covid 19 pandemic emerging during late 2019/early 2020. The original planned dates were 24th – 28th August 2020, but as the impact of the pandemic became more profound, the mode of delivery evolved from fully in-person, through hybrid in-person/virtual to eventually becoming fully virtual throughout the revised dates during 23rd – 27th August 2021. The Scientific Committee was formed in May 2018 and had a membership of a hundred and twenty one leading International Engineers and Architects, from both industry and academia; representing over thirty countries. After a worldwide call for abstracts, the Scientific Committee received 468 submissions involving 1061 authors and subsequently each abstract was reviewed at least twice by members of the Committee. Feedback on the abstracts was presented to almost all of the authors and afterwards, three hundred and thirty nine full papers were received. The full papers were, in turn, reviewed by members of the Scientific Committee, who generously gave their time to provide feedback to the corresponding authors. This proceedings include contributions submitted directly by the authors and the editors cannot accept responsibility for any inaccuracies, comments and opinions contained in the text. The editors would like to take the opportunity to thank all authors for submitting their contributions, the Scientific Committee for reviewing the abstracts and full papers and the Organising Committee for their countless effort in making the conference a success. 

The Space Structures Research Centre was founded by Professor Zygmunt Stanislaw Makowski in 1963. The Centre is a part of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering of the University of Surrey, Guildford, UK. Many different activities have been organised by the Centre since its establishment in areas such as research, publication, teaching, organisation of conferences, as well as, consulting work. This paper outlines the activities of the Centre in the past 50 years and gives an overview of the role of the Centre in the development of spatial structures in the world.

The objective of this paper is to investigate the member length regularity of lattice domes. Also, a recently developed configuration for lattice domes generated by Surface Sphere Packing technique is compared to five other lattice dome configurations.

Iran has a rich history in architecture from at least 5000 BCE. The paper tries to investigate the dominant components of Iranian vernacular architecture in different aspects. This gives a flavour of such architecture by presenting the examples from various periods (Achaemenid, Sasanian and Islamic period) and cities (mostly in central Iran). Specifically, the dominant components related to building materials, structural forms, mechanical elements and architectural ornaments will be introduced. Then, a few contemporary buildings, which applied some of these components, will be informed. Due to the research limitations, the components of nomadic architecture will not be covered in the paper.

The Space Structures Research Centre was founded by Professor Zygmunt Stanislaw Makowski in 1963. The Centre is a part of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering of the University of Surrey, Guildford, UK. Many different activities have been organised by the Centre since its establishment in areas such as research, publication, teaching, organisation of conferences, as well as, consulting work. This paper outlines the activities of the Centre in the past 50 years and gives an overview of the role of the Centre in the development of spatial structures in the world.

A great many Persian poems have been composed by many famous or obscure poets throughout the centuries which Persians have learned, memorized and recited throughout their lives. Regardless of their meaning, there are other aspects that make learning these poems simple and pleasant. It seems that the rhythm in traditional Persian poems is an important factor that makes it possible for non-Persian speaking people to enjoy Persian poems. As Marco polo, writes in his itinerary: ‘Persians are people who speak in poetry and walk on beautiful carpets’. Since Poem has a rhythm beyond the usual rhythm of the language, Which is due to the positions of syllables and how they sound, in this study with the help of graphs relating to syllables, we try to analyze the rhythm in different structural types of traditional Persian poems like elegy, lyric, couplet, etc. To this end, using dedicated software developed to analyze the music of poem through transcription of poems; samples of traditional Persian poems are analyzed.

The Spatial Structures; Movers and Shakers e-magazine is part of a series of activities in preparation for the Spatial Structures 2020/21 conference, which will be held at the University of Surrey. In the spirit of the key theme of ‘Inspiring the next generation,’ this e-magazine aims to reach out and encourage young people to enter the field of spatial structures, as well as to motivate everyone involved in this field. To do this, we celebrate the life, work and achievements of world-leading individuals and organisations in the field of spatial structures. We commend their outstanding contributions to research and education, as well as those in design, fabrication and construction. Each article chronicles one person’s story, and is also based on a written or virtual interview – available through the YouTube channel, ‘SpatialStructures2021’ – that consists of a series of Q&As and a section entitled ‘Your space, your structure’, where they present some of their projects and inspirations. This e-magazine is published by the Spatial Structures Research Centre at the University of Surrey. We hope you enjoy this new publication.

The objective of this paper is to present information about the life, personality and the contributions of Professor Zygmunt Stanislaw Makowski (1922-2005) as a pioneer in the field of Spatial Structures. He was the Head of the Department of Civil Engineering of the University of Surrey, in the United Kingdom, for 22 years (from 1962 to 1984). Professor Makowski also created the Space Structures Research Centre of the University of Surrey in May 1963, and the work of this Centre, over the years, has won a great deal of international recognition.

The International Conference on Spatial Structures is an event that has taken place every nine years since 1966 and has been organised by the Spatial Structures Research Centre of the University of Surrey. The seventh conference of the series will be held in the summer of 2021 in Guildford, as a joint event with the Annual Symposium of the International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures (IASS). Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and after very careful consideration, the conference will be an entirely virtual event. The IASS symposia have been successfully held for over 50 years in various countries such as Brazil, China, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, South Korea, Spain and the USA.

Engineering students, usually, show a greater interest in topics which are demonstrated physically rather than those that are explained using the so called ‘chalk and talk’ methods, that is, by oral presentations and blackboard/whiteboard/OHP. Also, students are motivated by hands-on experience and by linking concepts and physical models to real engineering problems. A hands-on project has been designed by the Author for civil engineering students to improve their practical considerations in designing structures. The project is about Design, Assembly and Dismantling (DAD) of a full-scale lattice structure. A specific teaching kit including prefabricated full-scale tubular steel members, as well as required connectors has been designed and manufactured for the DAD Project and the participants design a structure using (all or part of) the provided structural components. The project is modified to suite the participants at different levels, i.e. postgraduate or undergraduate levels. Also, a simpler version has been offered as a part of the ‘University Promotional Programmes’ for secondary school students. This paper provides further information about the background of the DAD Project and discusses the Project in more detail. Also, relevant literature is reviewed and a methodology is proposed to assess the potential benefits of using full-scale physical models as a part of a master degree module offered in the academic year 2015-16. Finally, the outcomes of the research, as well as further recommendations are provided.

The Space Structures Research Centre of the University of Surrey, UK, has been active in offering courses on spatial structures since its establishment in 1963. The courses vary from a day workshop on ‘Design, Assemble and Dismantle a Full-scale Prefabricated Lattice Spatial Structure’ for secondary school students to a core module of the master degree course in structural engineering entitled ‘Space Structures’. Specifically, details about this Space Structures module are discussed in the paper. However, brief explanations about some other courses organised by the Centre are also included.

The Spatial Structures; Movers and Shakers e-magazine is part of a series of activities in preparation for the Spatial Structures 2020/21 conference, which will be held at the University of Surrey. In the spirit of the key theme of ‘Inspiring the next generation,’ this e-magazine aims to reach out and encourage young people to enter the field of spatial structures, as well as to motivate everyone involved in this field. To do this, we celebrate the life, work and achievements of world-leading individuals and organisations in the field of spatial structures. We commend their outstanding contributions to research and education, as well as those in design, fabrication and construction. Each article chronicles one person’s story, and is also based on a written or virtual interview – available through the YouTube channel, ‘SpatialStructures2021’ – that consists of a series of Q&As and a section entitled ‘Your space, your structure’, where they present some of their projects and inspirations. This e-magazine is published by the Spatial Structures Research Centre at the University of Surrey. We hope you enjoy this new publication.

The Spatial Structures; Movers and Shakers e-magazine is part of a series of activities in preparation for the Spatial Structures 2020/21 conference, which will be held at the University of Surrey. In the spirit of the key theme of ‘Inspiring the next generation,’ this e-magazine aims to reach out and encourage young people to enter the field of spatial structures, as well as to motivate everyone involved in this field. To do this, we celebrate the life, work and achievements of world-leading individuals and organisations in the field of spatial structures. We commend their outstanding contributions to research and education, as well as those in design, fabrication and construction. Each article chronicles one person’s story, and is also based on a written or virtual interview – available through the YouTube channel, ‘SpatialStructures2021’ – that consists of a series of Q&As and a section entitled ‘Your space, your structure’, where they present some of their projects and inspirations. This e-magazine is published by the Spatial Structures Research Centre at the University of Surrey. We hope you enjoy this new publication.

The objective of this paper is to present information about the life, personality and the contributions of Professor Zygmunt Stanislaw Makowski as a pioneer in the field of Space Structures. He was the Head of the Department of Civil Engineering of the University of Surrey, in the United Kingdom, for 22 years. Professor Makowski also created the Space Structures Research Centre of the University of Surrey in 1963, and the work of this Centre, over the years, has won a great deal of international recognition.

The Spatial Structures; Movers and Shakers e-magazine is part of a series of activities in preparation for the Spatial Structures 2020/21 conference, which will be held at the University of Surrey. In the spirit of the key theme of ‘Inspiring the next generation,’ this e-magazine aims to reach out and encourage young people to enter the field of spatial structures, as well as to motivate everyone involved in this field. To do this, we celebrate the life, work and achievements of world-leading individuals and organisations in the field of spatial structures. We commend their outstanding contributions to research and education, as well as those in design, fabrication and construction. Each article chronicles one person’s story, and is also based on a written or virtual interview – available through the YouTube channel, ‘SpatialStructures2021’ – that consists of a series of Q&As and a section entitled ‘Your space, your structure’, where they present some of their projects and inspirations. This e-magazine is published by the Spatial Structures Research Centre at the University of Surrey. We hope you enjoy this new publication.

The Space Structures Research Centre was founded by Professor Zygmunt Stanislaw Makowski in 1963. The Centre is a part of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering of the University of Surrey, Guildford, UK. Many different activities have been organised by the Centre since its establishment in areas such as research, publication, teaching, organisation of conferences, as well as, consulting work. This paper outlines the activities of the Centre in the past 50 years and gives an overview of the role of the Centre in the development of spatial structures in the world.