The Roof That Floats
The entrance pavilion to the Steve Jobs Theatre rests on a single ring of structural glass, no columns, no visible steel. The roof, a shallow carbon fibre disc 155 feet across, appears to float.
The original concept used a steel frame with a separate FRP shell. The team replaced it with a single FRP surface that acts as structure, building envelope, and waterproofing at once, cutting weight, thickness, and complexity in one move. Less dead load meant less seismic force on the glass below, allowing thinner joints between the glass panels and making the seamless façade possible.
The roof divides into 44 segments around a central hub. Carbon fibre's low thermal expansion holds the full 155-feet diameter to just 4mm of movement across a 50-degree temperature range. The panel joints follow a microseam detail from performance powerboat construction. The surface finish uses a Class A film developed for supercar body panels.
The entire roof was fabricated and load-tested in Dubai, then disassembled, painted, and shipped to California. On site, it was reassembled on the ground in parallel with the glass erection and lifted into its final position in a single crane operation, in under a day.
It is the largest self-supporting carbon roof ever built, and the largest structure in the world solely supported by glass...