Truss UK Supplies Space Frame System for the National Theatre's Lyttelton Theatre

	Truss UK's OBLIK aluminium space frame

Truss UK is one of the few remaining British manufacturers of load- bearing aluminum trussing products; the company designs and manufactures structural aluminum products for the entertainment industry as well as other specialist industry sectors worldwide.

Having recently launched their new aluminum space frame product, Truss UK announces that it has supplied the National Theatre (NT) with a large OBLIK system.

OBLIK is a modular space frame system consisting of only three main component types, the largest of weighing in at less than 16kg. The system is lightweight, compact for transport and storage, and simple to erect using conventional fixings (nuts and bolts) to create complex aluminum structures that are extremely strong.

Truss UK director Paul Jordan says "The OBLIK space frame system was deployed in the grid of the NT's Lyttelton Theatre and is suspended from the underside of the existing infra structure of the building, fitted in the void between the grid and the roof."

Jordan adds, "Each of the OBLIK frames measures 14m long by 3m wide and weighs only 1,380kg, with all the members in the top and bottom plane of the structure having a load-bearing capacity. After installation each of the OBLIK frames were tested with 9.9 tons of live load and performed as it was intended."

Steve Colley, head of automation and rigging at the NT said, "we chose OBLIK for the Lyttleton Theatre as this system gives us the flexibility to rig new shows quickly, rigging directly from the OBLIK space frame without having to bridle from the roof structure or move grid stands and point hoists round on the grid for the show setup."

Jordan added, "Rather than show loads being supported by the conventional theatre grid they are now supported fully by the roof structure with the space frame distributing and spreading the loads throughout the system and back to the whole building structure rather than imposing larger point loads on it."

Truss UK director Tony Dickson said, "OBLIK can be used for so much more than lightweight mother grids like at the NT. We also have decking and hand railing components to create suspended walkways, platforms, stages, lighting rigs, ground- supported roof systems, and even high-load columns."

Dickson shared, "OBLIK has recently been used on the external façade of a building in a central Manchester to support a 14m x 8m video wall. Conventional steelwork support solutions would have imposed in excess of nine tons of additional load to the external face of the building, the OBLIK system only imposed around three tons of load, which was more acceptable to the checking engineer."