Arches come in many styles and patterns.  The most common are spiral packed arches (above) and pearl arches (left).  There are also linking arches, fishbone arches and combination arches.  Some arches are air filled and built on framework and others, like the ones on this page are helium filled.

This picture, taken in 2007, is of the Texas Hall stage at UTA.

The side columns were 6 to 10' tall.  Each topper was a 30" silver latex balloon.