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Students design breakfast spaces out of fabric
September 1st, 2010
The response to this challenge was as varied as the students who designed the spaces. Spring 2010 at the College of Design, University of Minnesota this author (and editor of this magazine), taught an undergraduate-level product innovation and new materials course called “(Un)Wrapping it All Up: New Materials for Design: Design for New Materials.” The […]
Going to the limits: structural basics
September 1st, 2010
To achieve the freedom of form that a fabric roof promises, strict rules must be obeyed if pitfalls and problems are to be avoided. By Craig Huntington No type of structure—whether it uses steel, wood, concrete, masonry or some more exotic material—conveys such an image of freedom of form as the fabric tension structure. This […]
Ingo Lishke, 1963-2010
August 5th, 2010
By Ali Heshmati The fabric structures world has lost another luminary. Ingo Lishke, the founder and director of Textil Bau GmbH, Trittau (Hamburg), Germany, a company specializing in the fabrication of small- and mid-sized fabric structures passed away June 16, 2010. Lishke was known throughout Europe and Asia as one of the best and most […]
Günter Behnisch, 1922-2010
August 3rd, 2010
By Mark Zeh Munich, Germany, July 19, 2010 On July 12, Professor Dr. E.h. Günter Behnisch passed away in Stuttgart at the age of 88. During his colorful, active life, he’d been a U-Boat commander during the Second World War, a prisoner of war in England after the war, then one of the leading architects […]
In memoriam: Roger Gant Jr.
July 27th, 2010
Former Glen Raven president Roger Gant Jr. has died at the age of 86. Gant served Glen Raven Inc. for 55 years in a variety of management positions and as president and board member. He also led the Glen Raven team that created Glen Raven’s Sunbrella® brand of performance fabrics in the early 1960s. “It […]
Low-Impact Design: Stormwater management applications for geotextiles
July 1st, 2010
By Adam Regn Arvidson The management of runoff from rain storms is regulated by state and federal governments. This is why nearly all major residential, retail or office developments have large ponds near their edges. These so-called “NURP ponds” are named for the Nationwide Urban Runoff Program (NURP), a study conducted by the U.S. Environmental […]
Tension structure expresses nautical theme at Mexican exposition center
July 1st, 2010
Beautiful Puerto Vallarta is one of the premier tourist destinations in Mexico. Its harbor is home to some of the most beautiful and expensive yachts in the Western Hemisphere. An equally beautiful convention center is located adjacent to the international airport and not far from a marina and major hotels that are located on the […]
Moving wall panels customize classrooms
July 1st, 2010
A historic, three-story brick carriage house at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), Richmond, Va., needed updating, repair and an image makeover to attract graduate students in advertising and media. Instead of breaking down the old, VCU integrated the new—an open space with noise-damping, tent-like walls that can be reconfigured to customize classrooms and conference space at […]
Fiber façade wraps a Dutch master museum
July 1st, 2010
Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, the Netherlands, a municipal modern art museum, closed in 2008 to launch a major makeover—including a futuristic building extension built from hybrid para-aramid and carbon fibers. Teijin Twaron, a member of the Teijin Group located in Amsterdam, sponsored the new extension. “Donating a structure made of Teijin’s leading-edge materials to the Stedelijk […]
Shigeru Ban’s Metz museum opens
July 1st, 2010
Called a number of pet names—Smurf House, Chinese Hat, White Toadstool— because of its unusual white undulating roof, the new Centre Georges Pompidou outpost art museum in Metz, France, is a serious work of design by Japanese architect Shigeru Ban and French architect Jean de Gastines (associated with Philip Gumuchdjian). The Pompidou-Metz is encased by […]