A well-shaded hotel

April 1, 2017  |  Case Studies, Exteriors

Hotels offer comfort, convenience and panache for entertainment events. In order to make the best use of an outdoor gathering space on its grounds, the Wickham Park Hotel in Wickham, Australia, worked with Shade To Order Pty Ltd. of Gateshead, Australia, to create a sheltering tensile fabric structu…
Reinforced hydrogels prove stronger than steel

April 1, 2017  |  Industry News, News

Researchers at Hokkaido University in Japan have developed a new material that is 25 times tougher than glass fiber fabric, 100 times tougher than hydrogels, and five times stronger than carbon steel, based on the amount of energy needed to destroy them. “The fiber-reinforced hydrogels, with a 40 …
New addition at Iceland airport cuts the glare

April 1, 2017  |  Industry News, News

Iceland’s international Keflavik Airport has added a new 4,700-square meter terminal, and designers are using a unique light-filtering façade that relies on fabric. Andersen & Sigurdsson Architects, Frederiksberg, Denmark, and Teikin Architects, Reykjavik, Iceland, specified Sefar aluminum-co…
Flexing their fabric muscles

April 1, 2017  |  Industry News, News

Researchers at Linköping University and the University of Borås in Sweden have created what they’re calling “wearable artificial muscles” by coating fabric with electro active polymers that stretch and flex when an electric current is applied. The researchers layered the fibers in a way that…
Sunset paradise

April 1, 2017  |  Projects

Imagine sitting poolside on a beautiful summer afternoon outside your luxury home just before sunset. If you are imagining the scenario without a custom contoured awning, the sun will be in your eyes and sweat will be on your brow. Sunmaster of Naples, Naples, Fla., helped a client achieve the perfe…
Gaudi-inspired design includes interactive responses

April 1, 2017  |  Industry News, News

Design studio SOFTlab, New York, N.Y., invited the collaboration of IBM’s supercomputer Watson to help design a unique installation for the Mobile World Congress recently held in Barcelona, Spain. The installation was suspended from the ceiling and involved attaching more than 3,000 aluminum “pe…
An ancient structure can now host modern events

April 1, 2017  |  Features

The structure once known as the Cistercian Abbey in Dargun, Germany, has a storied past. Located in the far north of the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the structure was built in the 13th Century as a Gothic monastery complex. Constructed of stone and brick, the building suffered major dama…
New superconducting tape not just for wind turbines

April 1, 2017  |  Industry News, News

The European research project Eurotape has developed a material that has the ability to channel electricity with no resistance and little power loss. The researchers are promoting the superconducting tape for use in wind energy applications, but it could be adapted to architectural use.