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Artists and architects
May 1st, 2008
Launching a working relationship. By Regina M. Flanagan Recently, I was one of 63 artists invited to submit credentials to design the portico for the Pines Dining Hall at Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina. The Blue Ridge Mountains are a backdrop for the school and I imagined the undulating sculptural form of a […]
Awnings create buildings that fight global warming
May 1st, 2008
Will the awning industry take advantage of growing worldwide awareness and concern for environmental preservation–and how much of a part can they play? By Isako Takizawa In spite of the extensive efforts by the Japan Awning Association (JAA) and IFAI Japan, awnings have not yet reached their potential in the Japanese market. A big opportunity […]
Sustainable views and fabric structures
May 1st, 2008
Three ways to look at their benefits. By Samuel J. Armijos With sustainable design as the most important issue in architecture today, designers are not only focusing on environmentally friendly materials but also educating their clients on the benefits of their design approach, their use of materials, and their method of construction for reaching “green” […]
Fabrics in an era of global warming
May 1st, 2008
A look at our changing climate. By Matthys Levy For millennia, growth in population and knowledge advanced slowly. Suddenly, in the early 19th century, population zoomed upward crossing the billion mark, and is now climbing above six billion (fig. 1.) By the end of the current century, it is expected that the world’s population will […]
Architectural membrane workshop to take place in May
May 1st, 2008
The 13th international workshop on the design and practical realization of architectural membrane structures will take place this May at the Technical University of Berlin. Invited lecturers this year include Dr.-Ing. Rainer Blum (Stuttgart), Prof. Wujun Chen (Shanghai), Ms. Dr. Deepali Hadker (Mumbai, India), Peter Lim (Collingwood, Australia), Nicolas Pauli (Montpellier, France) as well as […]
Double-sided banners create visually appealing storefront
May 1st, 2008
Banner Creations Inc. | Minneapolis, Minn., United States The challenge was to create a storefront display that better utilized the customer’s expensive retail space and to create an environment that provided privacy without being totally closed off. The space, an Avant storefront in Minneapolis, Minn., also needed to be visually pleasing to customers inside while […]
BC Place may get retractable roof
May 1st, 2008
In anticipation of the 2010 Winter Olympics, BC Place’s management is researching the possibility of replacing the iconic Vancouver building’s air-supported fabric roof with a retractable fabric roof. Talks have begun between Uni-Systems (a primary supplier of such systems in North America) and Birdair to explore the costs and technical challenges in converting the world’s […]
Recycling is new priority for vinyl roofing industry
May 1st, 2008
Following its European counterpart, the Vinyl Roofing Division of the Chemical Fabrics and Film Association, has launched a new phase in its commitment to environmental sustainability through recycling. The North American vinyl roofing manufacturers are developing the infrastructure to establish a viable program. The European Single Ply Waterproofing Assoc. (ESWA) program, Roofcollect, coordinates the recovery […]
1950s tensile structure may grace London Festival of Architecture
May 1st, 2008
This June, the London Festival of Architecture may be graced by a vestige of the past in the form of a tensile structure from the 1950s. The original “Skylon,” designed by Philip Powell, Hidalgo Moya and structural engineer Felix Samuely and based on the structural concept of tensegrity, was erected in 1951 on the edge […]
Wind dam designed to deploy fabric sail
May 1st, 2008
A fabric sail-fan combination aims to take advantage of a unique geological setting for sustainable purposes. By Helen Elias When it comes to the latest thinking in new ways to provide renewable power, it all comes down to the fabric specified —in this case, a large wind dam designed to deploy a 75m fabric sail. […]