Our Company

The passion of Dr. Kustermann for research and studies of Arch. Fuller on the geometry of the sphere led him to the United States where he studied Fuller’s project on the decomposition of the sphere, essential to maximizing structural resources.
Fuller decomposed the sphere according to a specific geometry, standardizing, as much as possible, the length of the lines. Even though he wasn’t the inventor, Arch. Fuller, developed the idea and called it “geodesic dome” and then managed to get an American license.
Subsequently, he created large geodesic domes with a low incidence of weight per square meter of covered area, incomparable to other types and technologies, maintaining excellent
dimensional stability.

Dr. Kustermann managed to get projects, production, and marketing licenses for Italy in exchange for royalties, the ZAK Company was born and Kustermann began to produce, trade, and sell geodesic domes under the ZAK brand.
The Accountant Giovanni Simone, a collaborator of the ZAC company, immediately realized that the circular base of the geodesic dome was a limit for the structure, the market required rectangular and square shapes. He left the company to focus on the development of a geodesic structure with the square or rectangular plan, maintaining the same lightness the structure would have had more possibilities of applications. The meeting with the Arch. Adriana Stoppa was the turning point, together they establish a geometry that met the new needs and patented it.

The next step required cooperation with a company able to realize and subsequently produce all the parts, such as connecting joints and related processes. Clearly, all the processes concerning material handling and product quality control also had to be considered.
The search was not easy, there were not many companies able to meet all the needs of the designers, but the good name of our company led them to Carnago. The main activity of the company was the production of molds, equipment, and mechanical parts with various processing, so it was easy for us to meet all the needs.

Our ability and speed in meeting all production needs, persuaded Accountant Simone that invited us to create a new company together. It was 1978. After a short period of collaboration, accountant Simone left the company, and with the patents filed in his name, he set up a new company marketing the products under the Elitunnel brand. We remained on great terms with this competitor.
The Arch. Stoppa, instead, decided to stay with us, we filed new patents and utility models, essential for the creation of different geometries and joints necessary for the building of geodesic structures.

The ZAC Company: specialized in geodesic domes, then extended the production to pavilion geodetic structures. The main feature of ZAC company was the structures with hanging cloth and external reticular structure. The joints were produced in
sheet metal, and the fixing of the pre-drilled pipes on the ends developed in a
radial pattern.

The Elitunnel company: the geodesic structures are identified by a special geometry. Thanks to the special sequence of isosceles triangles, becomes a spindle shape on the corners. The joints, defined as “arrows” were produced in carpentry, and the cover was placed outside of the metal structure. The accountant Simone has also designed and built other types of structures.

Our company has always been characterized by the external cloth and internal geodesic structure. The geometry is designed on equilateral triangles and the pavilion ends in an angular shape on the four corners.
The products have been marketed under the Tekno and Sistemi Carabelli brands.
Over time, many joint systems have been designed and manufactured. Mainly the joint used is spherical, in its versions: a portion of a sphere or spherical ring, made up of a double half-sphere. Both systems are produced by heat molding and the use of mechanical processes.
temi di giunti. Prevalentemente il sistema di giunti utilizzato è quello di forma sferica, nelle sue varianti: porzione di sfera o anello sferico, composto da una doppia semi-sfera. Entrambi i sistemi sono prodotti mediante stampaggio a caldo e utilizzo di lavorazioni meccaniche.

Currently, this system is the most common on the national territory with an important international diffusion. The increasing widespread of the Carabelli systems is also due to the 1986 business decision, to authorize other companies to produce and install our geometric structures with patents of our property.
Thanks to the Carabelli Systems it was possible to produce many geometric and architectural shapes, this variety has allowed us to increase the use of structures to open new areas of use and consequently new markets.