TEXTILES.ORG
Presenting shade to architects and designers
August 19th, 2024
I’d like to take a moment here to discuss something that is near and dear and has been throughout my professional career. There has always been a gap in my opinion regarding the value of shade in the architecture and design community. Photo: Glen Raven Custom Fabrics LLC Beyond providing energy savings, glare disruption and […]
Paris debuts a ‘grand’ temporary venue
November 1st, 2021
The temporary Grand Palais Ephémère features 44 timber arches wrapped in a transparent textile skin that offers acoustical, thermal and ventilation properties. Photos: Wilmotte & Associates. While the Grand Palais, Paris’ historic exhibition hall and museum complex, is closed for a multi-year restoration project, a membrane-wrapped temporary venue installed on the Champ de Mars in […]
Hoover Architectural Products blends fabric, metal
October 29th, 2021
Photography by Kim Fontaine Photography If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” contains a lot of truth, but there’s also a risk of stagnation if a company doesn’t adapt to changing times. When the global financial crisis erupted in 2008, Matt Carroll knew it was time for his family’s fabric-awning business to stretch its capabilities. […]
Project explores form and movement in architecture
September 1st, 2017
Can one visualize the wind? That was one of the ideas explored by Estudio Invasivo or Invasive Study, a Chilean design studio that studies the cardinal logic of architecture and its pedagogical dialogues. The project, Archetypical Sessions, placed architectural elements in different settings to explore how people interacted with the different scenarios. Participants were asked […]
Urban shade, on the move
May 1st, 2016
Imagine a massive bright red, two-story canopy heading toward you on multiple bicycles. Sound like something out of the movies? Well, it’s no fantasy. Called the People’s Canopy, the structure was commissioned by the city of Preston in the United Kingdom, working with In Certain Places, an art program for urban intervention and events, as […]
Commemorative canopy
September 1st, 2015
The first name of Frei Otto, a pioneer in tensioned fabric architecture born in 1925 in Siegmar, Germany, translates to “free” in his native tongue. The gifted architect developed his vision of lightweight architecture following stints as a stonemason for his parents (both sculptors), a pilot in WWII, a prisoner of war charged with camp […]
Building with textiles
April 1st, 2015
A report from the TextielMuseum exhibition: the current and future potential of textiles in architecture. By Marie O'Mahony The use of textiles in buildings is by no means new, with early examples of dwellings made using branches and animal furs that can be dated back more than 35,000 years. The TextielMuseum in Tilburg, Holland, is […]
Triangles of cloth dress up German exhibition
July 1st, 2008
Meyer created this site-specific art installation for the summer Rheinland Pfalz exhibition at Fort Malakow Park office building in Mainz, Germany. Triangles of cloth were stretched from one wall to the other in varying angles. The tilted diagonals brought a sense of lightness and movement to the rectangular architecture flanking the triangular patio.
New materials for architectural innovation
March 1st, 2008
A fountain of light-filled fabric is the center of The Soft House, one of 15 architectural innovations created for the 2006 Intelligent Living by Design exhibit at Germany’s Vitra Museum. The futuristic vision by Kennedy & Violich Architecture (KVA), Boston, Mass., invites visitors to bask in a glowing world of curves, curtains and translucent screens. […]