Conrad Roland
Encyclopedia
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
and pioneer of the construction of spacenets (tensile structure
Tensile structure
A tensile structure is a construction of elements carrying only tension and no compression or bending. The term tensile should not be confused with tensegrity, which is a structural form with both tension and compression elements....
s), which primarily are to be found as rope climbing frames on playground
Playground
A playground or play area is a place with a specific design for children be able to play there. It may be indoors but is typically outdoors...
s. In 1978 he designed and constructed the biggest spacenet of the world until today, the Super Four Mast Spacenet, for the Federal Horticultural Show (BUGA).
Life
Roland was born in München. After his final secondary-school examinations, he completed an apprenticeship as a carpenter. From 1954 until 1963 he studied architecture at TH Munich, at the Illinois Institute of TechnologyIllinois Institute of Technology
Illinois Institute of Technology, commonly called Illinois Tech or IIT, is a private Ph.D.-granting university located in Chicago, Illinois, with programs in engineering, science, psychology, architecture, business, communications, industrial technology, information technology, design, and law...
in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
and at TU Berlin. During his studies from 1959 till 1961 he was an assistant in Mies van der Rohe's office in Chicago.
In 1963 Roland began to work self-employed in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. He mainly compiled studies, projects and documentations on Hanging-houses and Spacenets. The plans for the construction of a sports stadium in Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi , literally Father of Gazelle, is the capital and the second largest city of the United Arab Emirates in terms of population and the largest of the seven member emirates of the United Arab Emirates. Abu Dhabi lies on a T-shaped island jutting into the Persian Gulf from the central western...
, which he developed in co-operation with Jörn-Peter Schmidt-Thomsen in the 1960s, won the tendering competition, but has never been realized.
Frei Otto
Frei Paul Otto is a German architect and structural engineer.- Life :Otto was born in Siegmar . He studied architecture in Berlin before being drafted into the Luftwaffe as a fighter pilot in the last years of World War II...
– Spannweiten (1965). A scholarship of the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, Chicago allowed the work of this monograph. In 1967 Roland worked as guest lecturer in Portsmouth; in 1967 and 1969 he held lectures on “Hanging Houses” in Canada and the United States.
From 1970 onwards the architect devoted himself to the development of the Play-Spacenets. His accomplishments concerning this principle of construction have been honoured with several prizes in and outside the country. In 1974 Roland founded the company “Conrad Roland Spielbau”, which planned and constructed rope play equipment and climbing nets from 1974 until 1985. The succeeding corporation COROCORD Raumnetz GmbH has been carrying the initial letters of his name in the corporate name until today.
For the BUGA in Düsseldorf in 1987 Roland constructed the biggest Spacenet of the world until today, the “Super Four Mast Spacenet” in Südpark Düsseldorf, which is still in use after remedial maintenance in 2007.
Predominantly, the architect developed Spacenets for playgrounds. In his publication, such as the patent specification for “Spatial Networks” in 1974, Conrad Roland revealed the multitude of applicability of the Spacenets: e.g. multi-level sun terraces, trellis, summer houses, beach and exhibition pavilions or as frame structure for exhibition spaces and sales areas, seat and reclining furniture and also work scaffoldings.
Since 1987 Roland lives in Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
.