Fabric canopies provide shade for commuters

July 1, 2009  |  Case Studies, Exteriors, Features

A new park and ride near Austin, Texas, offers commuters a cool respite from the heat. Commuters near the Dell Computers corporate campus have several good reasons to go green when they head to work, all of them contained in this smartly designed transit hub in the northern suburb of North Austin, T…
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Luxury development receives Mediterranean makeover

July 1, 2009  |  Exteriors, Features

The repurposing of a former boat storage facility in Naples, Florida, cleaves to its nautical roots in the details. A recently completed luxury development called Naples Bay Resort in southern Florida has proved successful despite an economic outlook that has turned grim. The resort’s overall …
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Project proposes air-filled fabric balloons as economical source of shade

May 1, 2009  |  Case Studies, Features

New York architects runner-up for MoMA’s seasonal P.S. 1 installation. Taking their inspiration from the clouds, the young architects at Bade Stageberg Cox Architecture, Brooklyn, N.Y., propose creating the lightest and most economical source of shade for the annual Museum of Modern Art’…
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The ephemeralization of energy production: Photovoltaics using fabric

May 1, 2009  |  Case Studies, Features

The skinny on photovoltaics using fabric and where to find it. By Amelia Amon Buckminster Fuller famously asked a group of architects “How much does your building weigh?” His query to us now might be, “How much energy is embedded in your photovoltaic installation?” Flexible a…
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Better living through photovoltaics

May 1, 2009  |  Case Studies, Features

A New York design firm is defining the new frontier of building technology. By Joanna Baymiller “Better Things for Better Living … Through Chemistry” –Advertising slogan for DuPont, 1935–1982. As it makes pioneering efforts in the green revolution, FTL Solar has made a …
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Designing innovative fabric structures

May 1, 2009  |  Features

How a German engineering/architecture firm is leading the way in designing exciting and unusual fabric structures. By Mark Zeh Recently I had the pleasure of talking to Gerd Schmid and Bernd Stimpfle, the managing directors of form TL. form TL is a structural engineering consultancy located in Radol…
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Fabric canopy helps cantina practice sustainability

May 1, 2009  |  Case Studies, Exteriors, Features

The new Sante Fe Opera cantina observes sustainable conventions and leaves the patrons fed and dry. I love sitting underneath the canopy at the Cantina on a rainy day,” says architect Hugh Hardy, principal of H3 Hardy Collaboration Architecture, designer of the new Sante Fe Opera dining facili…
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Mesh fabric creates dramatic building façade

May 1, 2009  |  Exteriors, Features

A curtain-like canopy on this Tacoma apartment building adds a theatrical touch to the entry. Hanna Heights is a 35-unit, eight story multifamily apartment building located in a trendy section of Tacoma, Washington, just five short blocks from the Thea Foss Waterway that reaches deep into downtown l…
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Fabric art to be featured at 2010 Winter Olympics

May 1, 2009  |  Features, Landscapes

The 2010 Winter Olympics will host world-class athletes and fabric art worthy of the event. By Jake Kulju Janet Echelman likes a good breeze. Her massive fabric sculptures pepper the world — from Phoenix to Portugal, Bombay to Hong Kong — often designed specifically for engaging the wind…
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Opera house features award-winning design

March 1, 2009  |  Features, Interiors

Art and architecture comingle in the new Oslo Opera. Norwegian architects Snøhetta are winners of the World Architecture Festival 2008 for their design of the Oslo Operahouse. The building’s arresting forms, integrated mix of materials and the designer’s close collaboration with a…
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