The sustainable future of fabric

January 1, 2008  |  Case Studies, Features

Fabric’s sustainable future may help lead design forward. By Mason Riddle It hasn’t always been this way for fabric. That is, being the messenger — if not the message — for a more sustainable future. In the past, designers who used tensile fabrics were not nearly so concerned…
Read More
Plastic bubbles wrap up energy waste in Melbourne

January 1, 2008  |  Case Studies, Features

Inflated plastic bubbles enclose a shopping mall in Melbourne, Australia, solving a host of problems, including energy waste. By Mason Riddle Entering Melbourne’s Federation Square through an oddly shaped opening that pierces a giant inflatable wall must be something akin to Alice tumbling dow…
Read More
Expressive canopy crowns a New Zealand home

January 1, 2008  |  Exteriors, Features

By Shelby Gonzalez The canopy that crowns Noble House on New Zealand’s Great Barrier Island invites poetic comparisons — a wind-carved dune, a sea-polished shell, a gull in swooping flight — but its form was born strictly from function. Designed and now inhabited by architect Greg …
Read More
Hospital fabrics assist in protecting and promoting health

January 1, 2008  |  Features

From waiting rooms to surgical suites and beyond, hospital purchasers look for fabrics to keep hospitals clean. By Katherine Carlson At North Memorial Medical Center, a Level 1 trauma center in Robbinsdale, Minn., value analysis teams meet routinely to evaluate new health-care products suggested by …
Read More
Acoustic canopy produces clear sound, clear design

January 1, 2008  |  Features, Interiors

By Zackery Belanger The Royal Festival Hall (RFH) opened on London’s South Bank in 1951 as a part of the Festival of Britain. On the heels of the devastation brought to the city by World War II, the Festival was a showcase for modern design, a spirit of rebuilding, and progress into the second…
Read More
Canopy protects students in school bus boarding area

January 1, 2008  |  Exteriors, Features

A San Antonio elementary school improves the educational experience by adding a new canopy. For health and safety reasons, the independent San Antonio, Texas, school district needed to provide sun and rain protection for the children waiting to board school buses at Sky Harbor Elementary. Looking fo…
Read More
Students focus on the environment at Design Camp

January 1, 2008  |  Case Studies, Features

Teens find use for recycled highway billboards, and learn a valuable lesson in design-build. By John Comazzi, Anselmo Canfora and Wendy Friedmeyer In July, 2007 a group of eager high school students from around the country descended upon the Twin Cities for an intensive week of project-based learnin…
Read More
Digitally printed fabric creates illusion of concrete façade

September 1, 2007  |  Features, Graphics

The fabric was used when the Abteiberg Museum moved temporarily into a vacant theater. By Jake Kulju On September 18, 2006, in Mönchengladbach, Germany, the Abteiberg Museum shut down for renovations that are scheduled to continue until November, 2007. In order to keep the museum’s servic…
Read More
Lightweight fabric roof covers glazed café façade

September 1, 2007  |  Exteriors, Features

Café Lichtblick may be Innsbruck’s favorite hot spot. High over the roofs of Innsbruck, Austria, on the rooftop of City Hall, sits the café and restaurant Lichtblick (“bright spot”). True to its name, the café’s lucid and open structure has unencumbered s…
Read More
Fabric roofing solution helps a grand race get grander

September 1, 2007  |  Exteriors, Features

BDP’s Aintree Racecourse redevelopment in Liverpool is a winner. By Helen Elias Aintree, Liverpool, is the spiritual home of the UK’s steeplechase community. The track is hallowed ground for many, not least because of its hosting every year of the Grand National, a challenging event know…
Read More