Red overhead

The Guildford Town Center in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, wanted to spice up the looks of its newly renovated mall with long fabric ribbons above two of the mall’s second-level walkways. The designer envisaged a continuous ribbon of constant width, and Transformit Inc., Gorham, Maine, accepted the challenge. To comply with fire code, the ribbons could be no wider than 48 inches, and the architect asked that the ribbons’ internal frames not be visible to shoppers strolling beneath them.

Transformit used bright red Trapeze® from Dazian LLC, an inherently flame-retardant polyester and spandex blend that stretched smoothly over curving frames. The frames covered the length of each walkway, so the installation had to be completed at night, after the mall had closed, with Transformit staff “dressing” the bare frame one section at a time. The completed tensioned fabric ribbon appears to dance above mall customers along the walkway, giving the Guildford Town Center the playful and inviting “zing” it wanted to dress up the mall.