The beamless curved roof structure on Bogyoke Aung San Road. Pic: S Construction

A STEEL curved roof built without principal rafters and purlins in the compound of St. Mary’s Cathedral in Botahtaung township is the first of its kind in Myanmar, said U Aung Thein, an engineer with the S Construction Co.

The curved roof building will be used as a car park and it was built by Myanmar engineers, he said.

“We built a curved roof building similar to this in the National Races Village in Thaketa township last year by using the reinforced cement (or RC) system. But this curved roof building using a steel structure is the first in Myanmar,” U Aung Thein told The Myanmar Times.

He said this building used not only the reinforced cement and concrete system but also steel columns. It is fixed with a curved roof which is fastened with bolts and concrete added again.

He also said engineers had to test the soil as well as test for the qualities of the footing, columns, and the ground and roof beams to make sure the weight of the curved roof is adequately supported.

“The curved roofs are quick to construct and easy to fix,” he said, adding that the largest of these curved roof buildings can accommodate even a thousand people.

This curved roof building can accommodate up to 700 people although it is intended to be used as car parking space.“The average cost of the curved roof building is about K1000 a square foot,” U Aung Thein said, adding that S Construction has ordered machines making curved roofs from Italy.

He said the company accepts all orders for curved roof buildings not only from Yangon but also from other cities and it can build with two systems – RC and steel structure systems.