New airport canopies welcome travelers

June 1, 2020  |  Features

More than 107 million travelers pass through the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, making it the busiest airport in the world. With all of the traffic, airport management developed a plan to renew existing facilities, enhancing the airport’s aesthetic appeal and ensuring the best p…
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Metalwork and framing for fabric applications

June 1, 2020  |  Features

Fabric is only half of the equation for many manufacturers in the specialty fabrics industry. The other half, metalwork and framing, requires its own set of capabilities.  by Laurie F. Junker A frame is the essential component that transforms fabric into architecture, turning a piece of cloth i…
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Making the case for fabric

June 1, 2020  |  Features

Commercial projects use shade to unify and transform large public gathering places  By Bruce N. Wright, FAIA “The architecture teleports you to a bazaar in a faraway land!”—Yelp report from a recent visitor to the Irvine Spectrum shopping mall in Irvine, Calif.  Many visitors, like t…
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A dramatic canopy rebrands a local landmark

June 1, 2020  |  Features

By Bruce N. Wright, FAIA In downtown Honolulu Harbor, the Aloha Tower Marketplace is one of Hawaii’s most famous landmarks. While it was completed in 1994 as part of a comprehensive revitalization project for a part of the city that had become distant from the center of business and tourist activi…
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Promoting shade in the marketplace and happiness in the workplace

May 1, 2020  |  Features

For Patrick Howe and Wholesale Shade, high-quality custom shade sails are the product of a happy and efficient workplace. by Jill C. Lafferty My day consists of making sure my employees are happy. That’s my number one job,” says Patrick Howe, owner of Wholesale Shade™, a private label shade sa…
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Innovative fabric facades

May 1, 2020  |  Features

Changing the look and function of architecture for a sustainable future.  by Bruce N. Wright, FAIA Architects are fond of describing their buildings in the metaphoric terms of the human body. The supporting structure is often referred to as the skeleton that holds it up; the enclosure (or envel…
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Outdoor lifestyles of the rich and famous

May 1, 2020  |  Features

Villa Sarbonne, a Bel Air mega mansion, was designed with no detail left unattended. The 25,000-square-foot home boasts nine bedrooms, 15 bathrooms, a movie theater, hair salon, spa and even a car elevator that rises seamlessly from underground to deliver the auto of choice for the day.  Builde…
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From Bauhaus to your house

April 1, 2020  |  Features

The Bauhaus was an art school founded in Germany in 1919 with a vision to reunite fine art and functional design in an increasingly industrialized world. Many female artists who attended the school were disappointed to find that the options available to them were the weaving shed and ceramics studio…
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Fun and funky fabric murals

April 1, 2020  |  Features

The latest outpost of the cool, contemporary London restaurant Chotto Matte opened last year in Toronto, Ont., Canada. Known for Japanese-Peruvian fusion cuisine, the restaurant offers a playful dining experience with luxury bento boxes, signature cocktails, a robata grill and a sushi bar. The color…
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The wide (format) world of sports

April 1, 2020  |  Features

When it comes to printing fabrics, the wide world of sports is beginning to live up to its name. By Jeff Moravec In sports, it’s always about competition—and revenue. As sports teams have established new revenue streams (such as sponsorships that require stadium advertising) and worked to enhanc…
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