Mechanically prestressed tensile structures usually need guy ropes or similar installations to take up the comparatively large horizontal components from membrane tension under prestress and external loads, and to carry these forces down into the ground where they can be anchored. These guy forced may cause some structural and functional problems, as the anchorage usually makes up a reasonable part of the overall cost of the structure. Also these guys frequently get in the way of the intended use of the building. Standard solutions to this problem exist, and have done so for a long time in the form of frame tents. In traditional membrane structures the fabric is planar and is only used as a cladding material to replace hard cladding in a otherwise traditional structure. Standard solutions for membrane structures of the saddle-shaped type also exist in structures like the frame sail and the rod sail, which are part of the production programme of most fabricators of tensile structures. Recently some other forms have been developed, all eliminating the need for external guys, as for example the arch tent, the rod tent, which uses a sophisticated system of scaffolding tubes, or the dome tent, supported by flexible glass fiber rods. For the celebration of the 750th Anniversary of Berlin a framed tent with c. 200 m2 has been erected on top of a scaffolding, 13 m above the ground, with severe limitations on the horizontal and vertical forces to be introduced into the staging. This could only be achieved using a horizontal bracing at roof level to reduce the forces to an acceptable level.

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