Photo gallery

  • From the lighthearted Tubaloon band shelter in urban Oslo to the stark desert timelessness of the King Abdulaziz Center in Dhahran, Snøhetta designs for the environment. Photos: Snøhetta.
  • From the lighthearted Tubaloon band shelter in urban Oslo to the stark desert timelessness of the King Abdulaziz Center in Dhahran, Snøhetta designs for the environment. Photos: Snøhetta.
  • Outdoors spaces covered by awnings rather than building extensions don’t require permits from most local government councils in Australia, a point favoring installation of retractable awnings such as the SUNRAIN Bistro.
  • Simon Fraser University’s Students in Free Enterprise are teaching high school students—like this young lady at Queen Elizabeth Secondary School in Surrey—to make reuseable shopping bags from discarded street banners. Photo © SIFE Simon Fraser Univ
  • The “Wear in the World” golf adventure pitted adidas and CoolMax performance fibers against 122-degree heat in Alice Springs, Australia, the world’s hottest golf course, and other extreme venues. Photos: CoolMax Fabric.
  • Eco2punch carpeting by Sommer Needlepunch is shown here. Photos: NatureWorks LLC.
  • Representatives of 190 nations attended the Copenhagen climate summit, making the event an epicenter of media attention—and a showcase for products made of plant-based Ingeo fibers and bioplastics. Photos: NatureWorks LLC.
  • The GeoDetect system uses geotextiles equipped with optical fibers to provide early warning of deformation in soil structures. Photos: TenCate Geosynthetics North America.
  • The new roof solves those problems and a few others besides. Renderings: Birdair Inc.
  • A big fire at a neighboring business discolored and shifted insulation in the old Talisman Centre roof, causing temperature and condensation problems indoors and a dingy appearance outdoors. Renderings: Birdair Inc.
  • The structures are made of renewable wood and GluBam (a glue-laminated bamboo product manufactured in China) and Teflon-coated ETFE fabric canopies. Photo: Helen & Hard.
  • International visitors to Expo 2010 Shanghai will enter a forested Norwegian landscape with 15 tree-like structures. Photo: Helen & Hard.
  • Baumgartner Environics Inc. manufactures the Bio-Curtain to control livestock odors, treating exhaust air with an electrostatic particle ionization system. Photos: Baumgartner Environics Inc.
  • Mater-Bi mulch films are made primarily of vegetable starch and vegetable oil; the biodegradable film transforms, in the presence of carbon dioxide and water, into humus. Photo: Novamont.
  • Fabric buildings tend to stay cooler in summer and warmer in winter, says ClearSpan Structures president and CEO Barry Goldsher, and the natural light actually improves animal health. Photo: ClearSpan Fabric Structures Intl.
  • Laurelbrook, an East Canaan, Conn., dairy farm, selected ClearSpan buildings to house manure composting operations—a move that controls compost quality, reduces odors and prevents runoff to nearby streams. Photo: ClearSpan Fabric Structures Intl.
  • Multiple arcs of large-diameter bamboo working together span an interchange near Cúcuta, Colombia. The saddle-shaped fabric roof protects the bamboo, extending its useful life.
  • A subtle melding of steel cables and fittings, fabric membrane and bamboo struts makes for a cool, airy pedestrian path.