TEXTILES.ORG
Interdisciplinary design firm, KVA Matx, recently teamed with Hamburg architects, 360+ Architekten, to develop their winning competition project for adaptable living/working row housing. Called the Soft House, the project offers a new paradigm for carbon neutral construction and ecologically responsive living. A working prototype debuted recently at the International Building Exhibition in Hamburg, where the design featured an innovative solid softwood structure that sequesters carbon and has a movable, textile infrastructure. The exterior of the Soft House is an interactive, flexible façade that harvests energy. Inside, smart curtains can be moved to reconfigure spaces and create personal micro-climates as the user desires.
Fabric Architecture reported on the flexible interior solid-state lighting curtains used in the Soft House in a past issue of the magazine, in the May/June 2008 article, a concept first developed by Kennedy & Violich Architecture Ltd in 2006.