Rudi Enos Biography

2010’s Onwards

Undoubtably now one of the originators of this niche, highly specialised area of structural design and engineering, Rudi provides specialist consultancy services via Special Structure Lab, including structure design, Film & TV consultation and structural certification, certification for the events industry, construction and other engineers and manufacturers.

Rudi now enjoys bringing a ‘security blanket’ to projects devised and run by others. If an event promoter, or a traditional architect, or a creative of any kind is wondering if their ‘crazy’ tensile ideas will work, Rudi applies his unmatched experience, skillset and approach to providing the answers, without compromising on safety, style and innovation.

2000’s

In the 2000’s, Rudi continued to push the boundaries of temporary and permanent tensile structures, mainly in terms of creative innovation in style, shape and aesthetics. Born of this were the Flying Saucer for NoFit State Circus, (specifically designed to look like a craft landed from outer space) and various small, visually arresting structures for clients such as Strongbow and Aftershock.

Also during this period, Rudi concentrated on permanent structures and tensile roofs, including consultation on the Istanbul Formula 1 Grandstand Roof, design of the Bahrain Financial Harbour building, Ankara Theatre, and the beautiful Waterfront Stage canopy for Latitude Festival.

1990’s

The 90’s saw more innovation, with Rudi designing yet more structures that were the first of their kind. The MoonBurst Marquee from 1990 was imaginative and visionary; many frame-supported tensile structures now using the design features. Other projects include structures for the Ebbw Vale and Gateshead Garden Festivals, permanent structures and tensile roofs for Manchester’s Castlefield Bowl, Birkenhead Park Cricket Pavilion, Millbrook Proving Ground, Sandown Park and Tees Barrage Water Centre and temporary structures for the rapidly growing outdoor event (festival) industry, including for Disney on Ice, nearly every major festival in Europe, and of course, the Guinness World Record holding ‘Largest Portable Event Venue’, Valhalla Tensile 1.

Some of the ground-breaking concepts introduced in the Kayam design and the Valhalla Tensile 1 have been used since by many other designers and manufacturers. Most festival tent stage structures around the world owe something to Rudi’s original 1997 design. This decade saw the peaked roofs of Rudi’s designs become the primary icon for festivals, with the BBC choosing to use the iconic shape for their festivals logo.

The primary concern, as well as producing visually stunning portable venues, was to ensure that the audience could see the full width of the stage without obstruction. Rudi made a significant contribution to the growth of high-end outdoor productions by providing designs with clear-sight lines for all, and that can be certified and insured the same as a traditional building, giving international promoters the confidence to hold major world-class events in temporary, and crucially portable, structures.

Special Structures Lab was formed in 1998.

1980’s

Based on his learnings and desire to revolutionise the temporary events industry for the benefit of the audience and promoter, Rudi’s Kayam design, originally conceived in the 80’s, proved to be the forerunner of most large-scale tension structures in use today. The Kayam was the very first tent of its kind, to be available for temporary outdoor events, that had the centre King Pole removed, to allow for ample sight lines for audiences. As we look back now, we can see that this proved to be a game-changer for the outdoor events industry - predominantly music festivals.

During this period Rudi also designed many temporary and permanent hospitality structures for outdoor events, for customers including Alton Towers, British Aerospace (winning an IFAI Outstanding Achievement Award), Coca Cola, Jaguar and Volvo.

1970’s

In the 1970’s tents were rarely used for major events - they were essentially canvas roofs used for flower shows or circuses. They had a virtual forest of poles positioned right in front of where the audience needed to see the action. It was common practice to pull down the structure in bad weather - an unsustainable practice for commercial enterprise.

From an entertainment family spanning generations, Rudi came into the events industry with a mechanical engineering background, and pushed the boundaries of what was known, by designing increasingly larger structures.

As a young man, Rudi spent this period travelling the world with circuses and events, learning the difficulties with traditional tents and realising the possibilities.

There are many events and construction projects that take place in one of Rudi's structures or use his design expertise. This site showcases the world class events that take place in the structures designed by Rudi Enos. All the events shown here include full design by Rudi Enos, and / or element/s of SSL structural design, stage design or structural analysis services.