Awnings encourage natural light and offer shade protection
June 1st, 2023
Natural light can help reduce energy usage in our buildings. This is a lesson known for centuries but seemingly forgotten after the 1940s with postwar technological advances in air conditioning (coupled with the Modernist design movement that declared “ornament is a crime”). These stripped-down building facades spoke volumes about a new era of high-tech materials […]
Sports pavilion built at a school in France
May 1st, 2023
Lycée Michelet is located in Vanves, an old but storied suburb of Paris, on a piece of land it first occupied in 1871. The school (Lycée) is at the center of Vanves and within blocks of the Paris Convention Center and little more than a third of a mile from the Seine River. As with […]
Orchestra requests tent seating for 1,700, tall enough for a bus
April 1st, 2023
With a large hospital fundraiser coming up, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra wanted to temporarily expand its home at Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. Loane Bros. Inc. was tasked with the project, which aimed to provide a climate-controlled space for cocktails, dinner and dessert for the fundraiser. The Towson, Md., company tented outside the iconic rounded building over […]
Sustainable design requires individual metrics
October 20th, 2022
“There is no doubt the world is warming,” says Mar Ricketts, principal and founder of GuildWorks in Portland, Ore., which specializes in permanent tension fabric structures. Ricketts considers climate change a market opportunity for people in the shade and comfort industry. In the Expo 2022 session “Warming Earth: The Need for Sustainably Designed and Built […]
Inflatable architecture on display
September 1st, 2021
The history of inflatable architecture is told through an exhibition that includes everything from live displays to conceptual artwork, such as this proposal for an inflatable venue for the Spanish Pavilion at Expo Dubai 2020 by architectural firms SelgasCano and FRPO. Photo: © SelgasCano + FRPO. The first inflatable, the hot-air balloon, was invented in […]
‘Fabricating Networks’ amplifies the invisible
August 1st, 2021
Installation view of “Reconstructions: Architecture and Blackness in America,” The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Feb. 27 to May 31, 2021. © 2021 The Museum of Modern Art. Photo: Robert Gerhardt. Architect Felecia Davis used active textiles and advanced knitting technologies to create “Fabricating Networks,” on display at New York’s Museum of Modern Art […]
Putting the art in fabric architecture
May 1st, 2021
“The Canyon” installation at the Salt Lake City International Airport was inspired by Utah’s slot canyons formed from water rushing through rock over millions of years. Photo: © Recury, Dreamstime. A successful work of public art today should not be treated as an object sitting in the environment; rather it should be interpreted as the […]
Fabric-covered classrooms earn OFPANZ Supreme Award
January 1st, 2021
Valmex® Lodge de Luxe from Mehler Texnologies provides a waterproof outer skin to the wooden frames and shells of these classroom pods, along with a green aesthetic that allows the buildings to blend into the environment. Photos: Mehler Texnologies/Low & Bonar GmbH. New Zealand’s Green School describes its campus as “a place for inspired learning,” […]
LA’s SoFi Stadium sets a new standard with massive roof and video display
January 1st, 2021
The 46 lower mesh panels were partially printed with graphics prior to cutting and welding, which required that the graphics align vertically across welded seams and horizontally across the aluminum frame members. Photo: Celina Tent. Featuring the world’s largest cable net roof and the world’s largest LED content playback system, SoFi Stadium, the new home […]
The inside scoop on shade, lighting and acoustics
November 10th, 2020
Photo credit: Transformit In the 2020 IFAI Virtual Expo presentation, “The Inside Scoop on Shade, Lighting and Acoustics,” Cynthia Thompson, MFA, president and founder of Transformit in Gorham, Maine, wowed conference participants with a slideshow of her company’s projects that highlight the stunning possibilities of interior fabric architecture. Thompson said many different markets can make […]