Pressurized air ribs carry the whole building, so every square metre inside is usable. Doors open like any other building: no airlock, no pressure inside. Each rib is built from independent cylinders, so one leak never brings the building down.
NECB – 2025
Sealed air ribs are inflated, which makes them stiff enough to carry the whole building envelope, plus snow and wind. The ribs hold the load and pass it down to ground anchors at the base. The air inside the building stays at normal pressure, so people come and go without an airlock, exactly as in a conventional building.
Each rib is made of independent cylinders. If one loses pressure, the others keep carrying the load while the inflation system tops it back up.
Or step through the four stages above. Chambers are numbered 1 to 6 from left to right.
All six chambers at design pressure. Blower idle.
Pressure shown as a percentage of design pressure.
Set a span, a length, a height and a city. We compute footprint, membrane area and design snow load.
Automatic occasional air rib top-up
