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Creating a great place

May 1, 2025  |  Features

Most architects are familiar with urbanist William H. Whyte and his studies of vibrant urban places, especially small public places such as pocket parks and plazas, streets and hardscapes. After close observations of scores of public places, Whyte listed a number of key factors that pertain to succe…
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Fabric architecture on display for millions in Osaka

May 1, 2025  |  Features

A projected 28 million visitors to the 2025 World Expo in Osaka, Japan, will marvel at dozens of fabric architecture pavilions and shade structures as they learn about cutting-edge technology and imagine a potentially more sustainable future. The event opens April 13 and continues through Oct. 13. …
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Pvilion’s solar ag buildings could take farmers off the grid

May 1, 2025  |  Features

Solar-structure manufacturer Pvilion, of Brooklyn, N.Y., is partnering with fabric ag building manufacturer Accu-Steel Inc., headquartered in Templeton, Iowa, to test an “agrivoltaic” structure for farmers. With the addition of walls, it could serve as an off-grid shop or livestock shelter or ha…
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Fabric awning replaces metal—fast

April 1, 2025  |  Features

A New Zealand seafood restaurant in need of a refresh to its outdoor patio turned to Kolorful Kanvas Ltd., of Christchurch. The project replaced the restaurant’s metal awning with a retractable fabric solution and outfitted the outdoor dining area with new screens and signage, making it look more…
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Fabric awnings vs. metal

April 1, 2025  |  Features

There’s no denying it: Metal has become popular for shading products and is taking market share from fabric. However, that doesn’t mean that fabric can’t compete. It brings qualities to the table that metal does not have.
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With myriad shapes and materials, tents continue to evolve

April 1, 2025  |  Features

While traditional tent styles are always popular with consumers, there also are numerous requests for new and different event venues. As a result, tent and event rental companies are constantly on the lookout for the “next big thing” to offer clients.
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GuildWorks gives a California park its first shade

March 1, 2025  |  Features

River Park in Petaluma, Calif., is transforming. Its inaugural structure is the peninsula’s first shaded area—there aren’t even any trees—underneath a shade sail array composed of diamond shapes and providing a covered area more than 70 feet in diameter. It rises 20 feet and was created by G…
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Blue and green roofs use many kinds of geosynthetics

March 1, 2025  |  Features

In the global push to lower buildings’ carbon footprint and energy and water use, some look to blue and green roof construction. These roofs can help combat urban environmental challenges such as the heat island effect and rapid inundation of sewer systems from stormwater and are a small but growi…
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Awning business succession: An in-and-out approach

March 1, 2025  |  Features

The awning business offers enough challenges to keep you growing, consistency you can plan around, and is rewarding enough to keep you fulfilled.
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Australia’s Wangun Amphitheater honors cultures

February 1, 2025  |  Features

Fabric architecture includes innumerable possibilities with shape and form, which can result in imbuing even an amphitheater with rich cultural symbolism. Wangun Amphitheatre in Kalimna West, Australia, commissioned by the Gunaikurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation (GLaWAC), is such a place.…
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