Americans are expected to buy more than 14 million new vehicles in 2013, and the Audi Manhattan dealership in New York City provides these prospective consumers with a luxury experience and a clean, elegant ambiance. When buyers pick up their gleaming new Audis, the dealership showcases the cars in a vehicle handover area bathed in simple white light generated by SEFAR® Architecture LIGHTFRAME wall and ceiling panels. SEFAR Architecture, Depew, N.Y., created the dual-membrane system of LIGHTFRAME to provide both light diffusion and acoustic characteristics in a panel that is easy to install, clean and service.
The Audi Manhattan individual LIGHTFRAME modules are stretched with two layers of SEFAR’s IA-80-CL PDVF interior acoustic fabric on the visible side, where they allow 80 percent light transmission from installed lighting fixtures. The fabrics are bi-axially stretched over a razor-thin modular frame system. The dual membrane prevents penetration of debris and bugs, and the material resists moisture and dirt, meets fire code requirements and is VOC-free. Each module pivots to a vertical position for ease of cleaning and fixture maintenance. “In terms of light quality and transmission, SEFAR Architecture LIGHTFRAME outperformed all of the other products we were considering,” says Lea Cloud, CR Studio, the project’s architect.