Textiles help turn mycelium into building material

December 1, 2023  |  Features

A team of scientists and engineers in the Living Textiles Research Group in the Hub for Biotechnology in the Built Environmentat Newcastle University in Tyne, England, may have produced a cheaper, more eco-friendly alternative to conventional materials, such as foam, timber and plastic, using myceli…
Read More
Year-round thermal comfort with ETFE 

November 1, 2023  |  Features

How do you provide for animals and plants that normally are found in Southeast Asia (latitude 10 degrees north of the Equator) in a building that is located at 52 degrees latitude, and in the winter can cope with average seasonal temps around 40°F?
Read More
Textiles enhance public and private spaces

November 1, 2023  |  Features

The great urban critic Jane Jacobs—known for her highly influential and transformative 1961 book The Death and Life of Great American Cities—noted that there are many repeatable factors that can determine the success of public spaces, not the least being that any neighborhood could be deemed wel…
Read More
Andrea Lynn on how shade sails have kept her creative

November 1, 2023  |  Features

It takes less than a five-minute conversation with Andrea Lynn to appreciate her earnest enthusiasm for shade sails—which is why her reflection on a decades-long career in the industry may come as a surprise. “I jumped into the business with rose-colored glasses on,” she muses. “This journey…
Read More
Poetic dialogue between factory and office

October 1, 2023  |  Features

There is a taut geometric synergy at the Enrich Life Bio-Tec headquarters in Ningbo, China, where the head office building—a multifaceted “diamond”—and the attendant factory building—a sleek, gently arcing semicircle—talk to each other over a calm reflective pool of water.
Read More
Advanced Textiles Expo: New name, improved event

October 1, 2023  |  Features

Join thousands of textile professionals for the first Advanced Textiles Expo (formerly known as IFAI Expo). Orlando is always a great location for the industry’s flagship event, and this year we are partnering once again with Sun Shading Expo North America. Connect with the industry for four days …
Read More
Outdoor fabrics: School spirit via banners, tarps and more

October 1, 2023  |  Features

When high schools and colleges resume classes every fall, outdoor sports are underway too. Fabrics play a key role in training and in the way stadiums and other sports facilities look.
Read More
New fabric roof improves energy efficiency

September 1, 2023  |  Features

Sports arenas, especially college sports arenas, have a challenging mandate to keep up with new technologies and active public usage. Case in point is Syracuse University’s sports dome that, since its debut in 1980, was heavily used by the university to accommodate football, women’s and men’s …
Read More
Playground shade sails protect patients

September 1, 2023  |  Features

Could there be a more feel-good project than one that gives a little bit of joy to children being treated (or having completed treatment) for cancer?
Read More
Multistory tents

September 1, 2023  |  Features

Shawn Smith is sitting in a tent on the 17th green at TPC Sawgrass, a celebrated golf course in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. It’s a typical sunny morning in the middle of February, and Smith, who is responsible for product development and quality control for Shaffer Sports & Events, one of the lead…
Read More