Description

When the E-ELT will be completed it will be world’s largest optical telescope with a 39m diameter primary mirror. To protect the telescope during daytime, a dome shaped enclosure was designed that measures 95m in diameter.

The European Southern Observatory (ESO) commissioned Arup to make one of two designs for the enclosure building, with a rotating dome and openable viewing slot. The Arup design featured a constellation of 2 × 3 nested horizontally sliding panels that would seal the viewing slot.
In AT+R Hugo led the structural design of the dome and the sliding panels.