Chapter 1 - Rewriting the Rules - First Steps
Valhalla - The Project
In Norse mythology, Valhalla was the legendary banqueting hall of Odin, the principal god of the Vikings, which played host to the Einherjar, the souls of warriors who had died a courageous death in battle. The largest building in Asgard, heavenly home of the gods, Valhalla constituted one of it’s 12 realms, its cavernous interior playing host to Viking heroes awaiting Ragnarok, the final battle of the world. Its 540 doors, each wide enough to allow 800 warriors to enter abreast, waiting to receive the souls of the brave. This legendary building was to provide rich inspiration for the very real Valhalla project.
Th,ere the Einherjar feasted while awaiting the final battle of the world, Ragnarok. The Einherjar were brought to Valhalla by Odin's warlike maidens, the Valkyries, who were sent out by Odin to gather the souls of heroes as they fell on the battlefields.
By one account, the hall itself was so large that it had 540 doors, each one so wide that 800 warriors could march through it abreast. Another account places the number of doors at 640, each wide enough to accommodate 960 warriors across. The enormous hall of Valhalla had rafters made of spears and roof tiles made of shields. Inside the hall, the benches of the long banquet tables were covered with coats of mail. The Valkyries kept bringing more and more slain warriors to the hall, but there was always more than enough food and drink to go around.
In Valhalla, Odin gathered his warrior champions around him each day. At daybreak they would go out, clad in their chain mail, and fight on the Asgard plain to maintain their skill and prepare them for the day they would fight the final battle, Ragnarok. The warriors enjoyed these battles, even when they were wounded or killed in them. After practice, those who had been felled would miraculously rise again, ready to resume their fighting again the next morning. Then they all returned to Valhalla for feasting and carousing.
The Enos Valhalla
Conceived and designed to provide the same sense of wonder to all who enter for the first time, as that original building of Asgard, the proportions of the Valhalla structure do not shame the legend. It is 86 metres wide, 160 metres long and 25 metres high. (106 metres by 180 metres to the main anchors). The Valhalla membrane structure as conceived is, simply put, the largest practical mobile membrane structure ever built, that also has the ability to be moved quickly.
During the period 1980 - 2000, the temporary structures market in the UK grew from a situation where pole structures up to 30 metres wide, usually made from cotton canvas were the norm, to a thriving, diverse business that generates nearly UK £100 million in the UK alone. This expanded market covers family, sporting, music, cultural and national events. The two largest areas are the corporate hospitality and the music/festival sectors. In the period 1980 - 2000 the span of the large tented hire structures went from a usual 35 metre maximum to the current largest span structure, the Valhalla, at 86 metres.
The structure was used for the first time on new Year's New 1999 to herald the new millennium. It became the largest indoor celebration in the UK that night by accommodating 28,000 people inside the structure, in addition to staging, light and sound equipment which cost £400,000 to hire for the night. 90% of the effects were suspended from the structure with a total flown weight of 400 kN or 40 tonnes. The event generated £7 million plus on the night and the same again in CD and video sales. Almost certainly, the success of the event has led to the first ever tour by a major contemporary rock band, Radiohead, to take place exclusively in a tented structure, the Kayam concert tent, the predecessor of the Valhalla.
For one night, it was the largest night club in the world.
The project was based upon the concept designs of Rudi Enos as a result of previous projects such as the Kayam theatre membrane and the ‘Walt Disney on Ice’ portable structure. As with any project in the modern age, no one person is responsible for a project in its entirety. Special Structures Lab (SSL) of Sheffield, UK were chosen to provide the engineering services and to prove the initial design. SSL were the principal engineers in addition to Rudi Enos. SSL provided all of the three dimensional system geometry and all of the manufacturing details and parameters.
Specification
Although the Valhalla is a lightweight portable structure, for its size, it weighs 180 tonnes but still weighs less than the air inside it.
Previous large-scale structures were hampered by compromises in the specification, that generally rendered them unable to meet their tasks, so the Valhalla project laid down the most stringent design targets ever for a large scale portable tented structure:
Site wind speed = 50 m/s
Snow load = 0.2 kN/m2
Suspended load = 200 kN per each pair of masts
Erection equipment = telescopic forklifts
16 pole structure = 10 - ISO standard 12 metre containers
Modularity = 12 different configurations
Operating sizes
The Valhalla is a modular membrane fabric structure designed to be operated in several different guises. It includes features such as 30 metre span between the poles, 6m high sidewalls and no intermediate poles, which are traditionally used on circus tents.
By adding sections, it can be operated at 45 x 45m, 45 x 75m, 45 x 100m, 45 x 130m, 75 x 75m, 75 x 90m, 75 x 105m, 75 x 120m, 75 x 135m, 75 x 150m, up to the contract maximum of 20 masts or 75m x 180m (all sizes to inner walls). This increases by 5 metres all round (to the points), and 12.5 metres to the main guys. The total floor area in the contract was for a surface area of 23,456 square metres.
Part of the reasoning behind the initial decision to build the Valhalla, was to provide a structure that was not only state of the art and usable without intermediate poles, but one that was truly economic and mobile. The fact that it can be used as a one pole, two pole, three pole, four pole, six pole, eight pole, ten pole, or even twenty pole and more, allows for more efficient use of stock.
The structure is transported in 10, ISO 12 metre standard shipping containers. All structural members are designed to not only perform their task, but to fit in the containers too.
Valhalla: The Ultimate Rave Venue
Perhaps Enos's crowning achievement was Tensile 1, a variant of "Valhalla." This behemoth of a structure holds the Guinness World Record for the largest portable event venue. With a surface area of 14,510 square meters and a capacity of 12,000 people, Valhalla was the ultimate expression of the rave scene's appetite for ever-larger spaces.
Compared to permanent large-scale structures like stadiums or convention centres, the Valhalla offers unparalleled flexibility and mobility while rivalling them in capacity and functionality. Its innovative design also sets it apart from traditional portable structures like circus tents or marquees, offering superior space utilization and aesthetic appeal. Rudi created a permanently installed version of the Valhalla called ‘The P Span Arena’. This version uses parabolic arched with a patent applied for system of erection that reduces the need for long periods of workers operating at height.
Next page - /book-page/lets-start-at-the-beginning