Thin concrete shells or folded plates are potentially an optimum system for enclosing or roofing individual or communal volumes in which lightweight, movable partitions could be used. It has been found that shell structures live up to this potential when large spans are enclosed. However, they are not competitive for small and intermediate spans because of the high erection costs associated with the conventional timber or steel formworks used in the casting of doubly curved concrete panels.

Investigations of more economical erection methods have been made. Some of these schemes have relied on the use of shot-creating techniques in the casting of concrete. In the shot-creating process, the concrete slurry is sprayed, possibly overhead, at high velocity from a nozzle against a rigid or flexible formwork with the steel reinforcement either attached to or supporting the formwork. Drawbacks to such an erection technique for concrete shells have included the limited range of geometric shapes and sizes of clear spans obtainable, the lack of analytic capability to predict resulting formwork geometries and stresses, and the lack of suitable materials (strength, durability, ductility, etc.) for use as formworks.