England schools incorporate smart materials and design

January 1, 2009  |  Case Studies, Features

Oldham Schools in England leads the way to intelligent, and light-filled, educational settings. By Helen Elias The city of Oldham, in the Northwest of England, had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: Oldham Council was awarded £230 million to spend on transforming secondary education through ref…
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New Zealand netball center sports eco-friendly facility

January 1, 2009  |  Case Studies, Features

An eco-friendly sports facility for women filled with diffuse light. By Mason Riddle “What is so great about this project is the seamless integration of fabric skylights with a corrugated steel building,” explains Bart Dreiling, president of American Operations for Structurflex, LLC, in …
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Corporate headquarters features solar screening system

January 1, 2009  |  Case Studies, Features

The addition of exterior fabric shades completes the headquarters for a Midwestern agribusiness. By Mason Riddle “I am amazed at the number of different industry leaders that were involved to make this project a success,” says Bob Helmsing, vice president of Lawrence Fabric Structures, a…
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Fabric canopies showcase the flexibility of space

January 1, 2009  |  Exteriors, Features

Two public atria — one in Peru, the other in Mexico — welcome natural light in poetic interplay. Dance of the sun In the heart of Oaxaca, a historic southern Mexican city east of Acapulco, is a popular tourist destination called Los Danzantes (“The Dancers”). Los Danzantes is…
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PVC breeds controversy

January 1, 2009  |  Case Studies, Features

Can vinyl fit in a green world? By Janice Kleinschmidt Poor Waldo Semon. Today the inventor would no doubt fly his private jet to his private island, where he would entertain VIPs in just about any industry you could name. But in 1926, when the B.F. Goodrich Co. researcher devised polyvinyl chloride…
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Semi-circular awning helps spruce up old warehouse

January 1, 2009  |  Exteriors, Features

Transforming a tired brick box into a lively center for selling tires. When Chicago architect Terri Johnson got the call from a client to spruce up an old warehouse, she assumed the job would be straightforward. What she found at the project site in Hammond, Ind., was an extremely plain, windowless …
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Outdoor dining pavilion includes cooling tables

January 1, 2009  |  Case Studies, Features

Harking back to a simpler time, when technology was evident, and worked! By Jason Griffiths To the east of Johnson City, Texas, is the Lyndon B. Johnson family home. Part of the Johnson Estate is given over to a working farm circa 1870 that presents various aspects of domestic practice from the era.…
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2008 ACADIA conference to cover biological processes and computation

September 1, 2008  |  Features

The Association for Computer-Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA) will hold its 2008 conference on the theme of biological processes and computation in Minneapolis, Minn. from Oct. 16-19. The conference, named “Silicon & Skin,” seeks to identify and examine current trends in digital…
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Geotextile mat helps hold North Dakota river in place

September 1, 2008  |  Case Studies, Features

The Grand Forks, North Dakota river jumped its banks; now a geotextile mat helps hold it in place. By Adam Regn Arvidson On the riverfront in Grand Forks, North Dakota, in a park called the Town Green, is a concrete obelisk that commemorates floods. The tip of that obelisk, 16.5m above the Red River…
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Sustainable headquarters features fabric stitched into building

September 1, 2008  |  Case Studies, Features

The headquarters of fashion designer Hugo Boss. Space for more than 300 employees and design studios is neatly tucked into the Hugo Boss center for design and development, located in the tiny Swiss village of Coldrerio not far from the Italian border. Although the staff for the designer label may nu…
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