Arena – St. Louis, Missouri

This structure measured 276’ by 476’.   The German patented lamella design takes its name from the Latin word denoting “a plate like part or structure”.

A German housing official in Dessau Germany developed the idea of the lamella roof in 1908.

Its strength lies in the interlocking ribs, the miter joints, which were fastened together in a diagonal fashion to create a self-supporting fishnet grid.  The fusion of these elements eliminated the need for interior columns or beams.

Kiewitt; the designer, later designed the Houston astrodome using the same principle.

It took more than a year to build the St. Louis Arena and 45 days to construct it’s roof, but it took only 500 pounds of dynamite to bring it down.

Prior to the demolition, all asbestos was removed and once the structure was on the ground it took approximately 120 days to complete the clean-up.