A chic shading system

May 1, 2013  |  Features, Interiors

A high-end mall fights off the sun with fabric. The Mall at Chestnut Hill, located in the Chestnut Hill section of Newton, Mass., caters to affluent Bostonians living in the suburbs. The high-end, two-story enclosed mall is small by most retail mall standards but attracts shoppers with tony boutique…
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Interior textiles: Part 2

May 1, 2013  |  Features, Interiors

Detailing the development of an industry. By Nicholas Goldsmith Besides the developments described in Part 1, another critical path in the development of tensile fabric interiors also started during the 1980s. Bill Moss, well known since the 50s for his design of lightweight camping tents, introduce…
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Fabric ceiling transforms a school gym

May 1, 2013  |  Features, Interiors

Arcus Temporum XI, a three-day spiritual exercise August, 2012, blended music, theater and art, focusing on the theme “a search for place.” The festival site, the Arch Abbey of Pannonhalma, Hungary, is a historic monument with a breathtaking view of Lake Balaton—and a boarding scho…
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Fabrics shape a new media shop

January 1, 2013  |  Features, Interiors

Three kinds of fabrics shape a 21st century production space. By Frank Edgerton Martin Like the traveling circuses in the 19th century and today, the field of new media requires workspaces that are flexible, open and able to accommodate large groups when necessary. Editors, animators and producers o…
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Case study: Louis Vuitton’s Singapore showroom

January 1, 2013  |  Features, Interiors

FTL dresses up the Singapore showcase for haute couture designer Louis Vuitton’s newest store. Louis Vuitton Asia Pacific’s request was to develop an iconic custom solar shade skin for the flagship “Island Maison” at Sands Marina Bay, Singapore. The project is located in a fl…
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Interior textiles: Part 1

January 1, 2013  |  Features, Interiors

Laying out the context and history of tensioned fabric interiors. By Nicholas Goldsmith Unlike exterior fabric structures, such as tensile architecture and textile facades, interior fabric environments are able to use a greater diversity of materials because they aren’t required to withstand t…
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Heat responsive tension structures

January 1, 2013  |  Interiors, News

Graduate students Felecia Davis and Delia Dumitrescu recently presented their research on interactive, knitted tension structures that respond to heat or electrical current. Using a tubular knitting machine, with electronic circuits running throughout the fabrics tested, Davis (a PhD candidate at MI…
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School’s roof lets in natural light

November 1, 2012  |  Features, Interiors, News

Nottingham University Samworth Academy (NUSA), a new secondary school, is part of the UK government’s initiative to roll out academies across the country. Designed by Atkins Global architects, the design features a cable-supported, single skin ETFE roof over an unheated internal street with cl…
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Reinventing architecture with fabric

November 1, 2012  |  Interiors

Dutch artist and designer Petra Blaisse believes in “the reanimation of desolate buildings,” and her latest “intervention” at the 13th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice, Italy, uses daylight, shadow and space-transforming curtains to bring a vacant exhibit space…
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Swiss art sees the light

November 1, 2012  |  Features, Interiors

Visitors to the Art House Uri, Altdorf, Switzerland, can now experience their art under a new modular illuminated fabric ceiling system by Sefar Architecture. As part of a recent expansion project to the museum, the Art House Uri gallery is a permanent home for the works of local artist Heinrich Dan…
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