California-based Total Structures is pleased to announce the launch of their latest outdoor roof system design, the Air Roof. Air tackles a long-term industry challenge of how to provide an attractive “sun shade” medium capacity outdoor roof system on a budget. This is achieved through the use of a unique nonrigid inflatable apex system, which is attached to the truss and provides the roof with the slope necessary to provide adequate rain run-off and protection to the stage below.

The first owners of an Air system are Atlantis Audio and Lighting of Scottsdale, AZ who took delivery earlier this month and have already used it at two events. The Atlantis Air system measures 42’-sq-ft and stands 33’ tall on four 12” towers. The main perimeter is produced from conventional Medium Duty truss. The system is finished with cantilevered PA trusses on both sides. The roof was also designed so that the main system can be split and with additional components used as two stand alone 42’ by 22’ roofs.

The system is fully engineered with its own dedicated stamped structural report and was delivered in less than four weeks from date of order.

Will Leach, owner of Atlantis Audio and Lighting comments, “We initially contacted Total with a very tough brief to provide something that looked like one of their standard ladder roofs systems, but without the capacity requirements and therefore hopefully without as much cost. Our deadline was also very tight as we needed something for a specific event.”

Vice president of Total Structures, Adrian Forbes-Black explains further, “We had been working on this design for a while and when Will called we knew that this would be an ideal catalyst to finally finish the work and bring it to life. The coolest thing about it is that now with just a small investment anyone that already owns a ground support system can turn it into a fully engineered outdoor roof.”

Leach adds, “To be honest at first we were a little skeptical, however once the guys at Total explained it to us and showed us their designs we knew that we could be the first owners of something pretty interesting. So far the roof has been a great investment and as an audio guy I can testify that because of its unique design, whereby we have very few straight edges to the skin, the acoustics underneath the roof are far better than any other system we have used or worked with before. The other main benefit is the set-up time, which is quite remarkable as most of the hard work is done by the inflatables’ blowers!”

Forbes-Black comments, “So far we have only physically produced this one size roof, albeit with the option for it to split into two smaller halves, however the concept can be used for just about any size system. We already have another potential order on the drawing board for a 62’ by 42’ Air roof so who knows where this design may end up going. I guess we will know that we have a good idea on our hands when we see one of our competitors using the same concept!”