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Fabric skin completely transforms riverboat casino
December 1st, 2024
Image: Structurflex/Daniel R. Berger II Calling it “a complete overhaul” doesn’t even begin to describe the transformation of the Bally’s riverboat casino in Kansas City, Mo., done by Structurflex of Merriam, Kan., with the FlexFacades cladding system. There’s nothing “old-timey riverboat” about the current look, although there is a nod to the water with some […]
Robotics plus ETFE fabric architecture in a Chinese building
November 1st, 2024
This dynamic architecture features ETFE petals that open and close around the building, offering privacy or views. When you think of robotics, architecture probably is not what first comes to mind. But design company line+, of Hangzhou, China, partnered with robotics systems company RoboticPlus.AI to create a dynamic building like no other. The public building, […]
Baseball complex is repeat business for Signature Structures
June 1st, 2024
Spring means the start of baseball season, and in March, Dexter Southfield School in Brookline, Mass., opened its new indoor baseball and softball practice facility, thanks to work done by Signature Structures LLC of Easton, Pa. The company partnered with Dellbrook/JKS as general contractor and ARC/Architectural Resources Cambridge. This is the second facility Signature Structures […]
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 […]