The numbers game

November 9, 2009 | Bruce N. Wright

Triskaidekaphilia, love of the number 13: Greek, tris, three + kai, and + deka, 10 + philia, love of.

November 1, 2009 marked the beginning of the 13th year of my editorship of Fabric Architecture magazine and my, how it has flown! I have visible proof of how swift time can fly in my 13-year old son who has changed significantly over the same period. Fabric architecture as a field of study also has changed radically, going from what appeared to be a marginal branch of architectural practice to what now appears to be an avant garde. After all, if the likes of Zaha Hadid, Norman Foster (see his Dresden Main Station refurbishment in ’07) and Rem Koolhaas (see his Serpentine Pavilion of ’06 with engineer Cecil Balmond) are playing with the material, it means fabric has finally gotten onto the pallet of desirable building materials with influential designers. And that can only be good for all of us. So the number 13 is not one to be feared from my perspective.

November also marks 20 years of FA, an equally significant period of development and innovation for our industry, and the beginning, I would hope, of another 20 years of publication and industry innovations. Looking back, I’d say the most exciting developments have been with new materials and technologies such as ETFE, PV-integrated tension structures and phase-change textiles, which have opened up new avenues of design and excited a new generation of designers. Perhaps the most significant issue shaping the industry—indeed all industries—is sustainability, a societal force that is remaking how everyone does business. There is a growing recognition throughout society of the need for construction techniques that have low-embodied carbon footprints, an area of practice where specialty textiles can shine.

To celebrate this journal’s anniversary and the journey we’ve all traversed, throughout the next 13 months in each issue we will highlight landmark stories from FA’s past. These retrospectives, starting with this issue’s look back at Eberhard Zeidler’s Canada Place, can be found on our newly redesigned web site (www.fabricarchitecturemag.com) where I invite your thoughts on this industry’s future.

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