As part of a major refurbishment of Dresden's main railway station hall, the existing 19th century steelwork filigree was covered with a new 30,000m2 fabric roof, making it the largest membrane to be attached to an existing structure in the world.
Buro Happold assisted the architect in the refurbishment of the wrought-iron filigree arch roof over the station, which was overlaid with fabric because modern glazing standards precluded the use of glass.
One of the challenges was to resolve the load transfer from the membrane through the existing steelwork into the foundations. This was achieved by introducing a secondary structure to the top chord of the old steel arches, which have little resistance to the horizontal forces. This meant that the reactions in longitudinal direction of the station are now transferred to the braced end bays, which are effectively 10m wide trusses. Additional cables underneath the fabric were introduced to ensure that overall stability is maintained.
