Hall with 60 m super-light beams compared with 30 m TT beam technology. Illustration: K. Hertz
The basic idea of super-light structures is to build a skeleton of a strong material interacting with a stabilizing layer of a light material.
The strong material can for example be made of concrete, brick, or high-strength concrete and the light material can for example be light-weight concrete. However, the basic principle can be applied for any strong and light material.
The light material is usually much cheaper than the strong. It fills out the shape of the structure and applies the load on the skeleton, which is often curved to be optimized. It protects the strong material of the skeleton from impacts and fire, and it prevents it from buckling, which typically increases the load-bearing capacity of the skeleton 4 times.
The strong material can be cast out in a duct or a groove made in the light material, or it can be established in advance for example as pearl-chain reinforcement.