David H. Geiger (1935 – October 3, 1989) was an American engineer who invented the air-supported fabric roof system that at the time of his death was in use at almost half the domed stadiums in the world. Geiger was born in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, received a bachelor's degree from Drexel University, master's degree from the

University of Wisconsin–Madison The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin. Founded when Wisconsin achieved statehood in 1848, UW–Madison ...

and PhD in engineering from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. While an adjunct professor at

with a part-time engineering practice, Geiger designed the enclosure for the United States pavilion at

Expo '70 The or Expo 70 was a world's fair held in Suita, Osaka Prefecture, Japan between March 15 and September 13, 1970. Its theme was "Progress and Harmony for Mankind." In Japanese, Expo '70 is often referred to as . It was the first world's fair ...

Osaka, Japan is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2.7 ...

. He had been tapped after the architecture firm Davis-Brody won the design contest for the building. Davis Brody's winning design was a 30-story high air filled "pumpkin" atop the pavilion and they needed an engineer with the expertise to implement it. Geiger was designing the US Pavilion to be capable of withstanding Japan's

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, fr ...

s and

typhoon A typhoon is a mature tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere. This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, and is the most active tropical cyclone basin on Earth, accounting for a ...

s when Congress approved only half of the expected budget. To accommodate this severely reduced budget, he drastically cut the proposed height and used a low profile cable-restrained air-supported roof of his own invention, employing a super-elliptical perimeter compression ring and diagonally-run pattern of cables which prevented fabric sag around the edges. Geiger's fabric air-supported roof invention was significantly cheaper than the largest fixed dome structure of the day: the

Astrodome The NRG Astrodome, also known as the Houston Astrodome or simply the Astrodome, is the world's first multi-purpose, domed sports stadium, located in Houston, Texas. It was financed and assisted in development by Roy Hofheinz, mayor of Houston ...

. After Osaka,

Horst Berger Horst Berger (1928-2019)Gretchen (Gay) Smart Berger
friendsjournal.org was a s ...

joined Geiger's practice which became Geiger Berger Associates. Around the U.S. in the 1970s and early 1980s, Geiger Berger built eight stadia with air-supported roofs. They also went on to produce pioneering designs for a series of low-cost long-span cable, tensile membrane structures including the first

tensegrity Tensegrity, tensional integrity or floating compression is a structural principle based on a system of isolated components under compression inside a network of continuous tension, and arranged in such a way that the compressed members (usua ...

type dome for the Olympic Gymnastics Venue,

Seoul, Korea Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...

(which had been inspired by the work of R. Buckminster Fuller), first translucent insulated fabric roof at

MNP Community & Sport Centre MNP Community & Sport Centre, formerly known as the Repsol Sport Centre, Talisman Centre and Lindsay Park Sports Centre, is a multi-sports complex in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The name of the facility was changed in March 2002, after the City of ...

(originally the Lindsay Park Sports Centre),

Calgary, Alberta Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

, Canada, first “permanent” low profile air-supported fabric roof to cover a stadium at the

Pontiac Silverdome The Pontiac Silverdome (also known simply as the Silverdome) was a stadium in Pontiac, Michigan. It opened in 1975 and sat on 199 acres (51 ha) of land. When the stadium opened, it featured a fiberglass fabric roof held up by air pressure, ...

in Pontiac, Michigan. The partnership with Berger dissolved in 1983 and Geiger formed Geiger Associates, which was acquired by KKBNA in 1986. In 1988, Geiger in partnership with former Principals and colleagues from Geiger Associates went on to found

Geiger Engineers Geiger Engineers is an American structural engineering consulting firm located northwest of New York City. Founded in 1988 by David H. Geiger, Paul A. Gossen, David D. Chen, David M. Campbell, and Mike Liao, the company has worked on large proj ...

. Geiger died in 1989 while traveling in Seoul where he had designed three venues for the 1988 Olympics.

Notable domes

, Pontiac, Michigan (1975) *

DakotaDome The DakotaDome is an indoor multi-purpose stadium in the north central United States, located on the campus of the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, South Dakota. Opened in 1979 at a cost of $8.2 million, the 9,100-seat venue is th ...

Vermillion, South Dakota Vermillion ( lkt, Waséoyuze; "The Place Where Vermilion is Obtained") is a city in and the county seat of Clay County. It is in the southeastern corner of South Dakota, United States, and is the state's 12th-largest city. According to the 2020 ...

(1979) * Stephen C. O'Connell Center (1980) *

Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome The Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome (commonly called the Metrodome) was a domed sports stadium located in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. It opened in 1982 as a replacement for Metropolitan Stadium, the former home of the National Football League ...

, Minneapolis, Minnesota (1982) *

BC Place BC Place is a multi-purpose stadium in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Located at the north side of False Creek, it is owned and operated by the BC Pavilion Corporation (PavCo), a crown corporation of the province. The venue is currently ...

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

, British Columbia, Canada (1983) *

(formerly Talisman Centre and originally Lindsay Park Sports Centre),

(1983) * RCA Dome,

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Mari ...

(1984) *

Tokyo Dome is an indoor stadium in Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan. It was designed as a baseball stadium following its predecessor, Korakuen Stadium. Construction on the stadium began on May 16, 1985, and it opened on March 17, 1988. It was built on the site of th ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

(1988) *

Redbird Arena CEFCU Arena, formerly known as Redbird Arena, is a 10,200-seat multi-purpose arena located in Normal, Illinois, on the campus of Illinois State University. Built in 1989, the building is notable for its use of a Teflon-coated roof that gives off ...

(1988) *

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

venues in

Olympic Weightlifting Gymnasium Olympic Weightlifting Gymnasium located in the Olympic Park area of Seoul, South Korea. It was constructed between August 1984 and April 1986, and hosted the weightlifting at the 1986 Asian Games and two years later the same sport at 1988 Summer ...

** Olympic Fencing Gymnasium **

Olympic Gymnastics Arena The Olympic Gymnastics Arena (), also known as the KSPO Dome since 2018, is an indoor arena located within the Olympic Park in Seoul, South Korea. It has a capacity of 15,000 and can be extended upto 20,000. It was constructed between 31 Aug ...

Tropicana Field Tropicana Field (commonly known as the Trop) is a multi-purpose domed stadium located in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. The stadium has been the home of the Tampa Bay Rays of Major League Baseball (MLB) since the team's inaugural sea ...

(1989)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Geiger, David H. 1935 births 1989 deaths Drexel University alumni University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Engineering alumni Columbia School of Engineering and Applied Science alumni Structural engineers People from Philadelphia