Fabrics for facades
Fabrics could be the next big thing in facades
Researchers at the Institute of Building Structures and Structural Design in Stuttgart, Germany, are developing flexible fiber composite structural assemblies for the Elytra Pavilion, a dome structure made of woven glass-carbon fibers. (Institute for Lightweight Structures and Conceptual Design)
Humans have used fabric to create shelter for thousands of years. If a series of revolutionary researchers and designers get their way, however, the applications of textile-based architectural elements have the potential to play a major role in shaping the future of architectural surfaces as well.
Across scales and methods of application, research into the use of textile-based elements in architecture has increased over the past 15 years as professional teams and universities in Europe and the United States have embraced robotic weaving applications, custom-designed carbon fiber fabrics, and experimental fabric facades. With the goal of wrapping ever-larger structures, creating unique sensory experiences, and designing a more sustainable future, new applications of textiles have the potential to change the face, look, and feel of architecture as we know it.
Composite fiber dome
Institute of Building Structures and Structural Design
Universities in Germany are leading the research, particularly at the Institute for Building Structures and Structural Design (ITKE) in Stuttgart, where Professor Jan Knippers developed methods for creating fabrics from bendable composite elements, including carbon and glass fibers.
Knippers is currently working on the latest iteration of its Elytra Pavilion, a prototype “Fiber Composite Dome” structure that will debut at the National Garden Show in Heilbronn, Germany, later this year. The 12-foot-wide dome is made of woven glass-carbon fiber elements connected only by steel washers and bolts.
To create the pavilion, Knippers designed a geometric array of 60 resin-impregnated fiber body clusters that mesh together to distribute structural loads from the dome elegantly and efficiently. The precision-driven layout also extends to the size and organization of each strut’s individual carbon fibers, which are robotically arranged into place, baked in an oven until stiffened, and finally assembled into taut extension assemblies. When erected into the final spherical shape for the pavilion, a secondary ETFE polymer shell is added on top for protection from the elements.
Demonstrator CRC1244 – Institute for Lightweight Structures and Conceptual Design
Research in the field of building construction is also taking place in Germany, where Dr. Walter Haase, managing director of the Collaborative Research Center (CRC1244) at the Institute for Lightweight Structures and Conceptual Design (ILEK) in Stuttgart, is really pushing the boundaries.
Fourteen university research teams are working to develop ways to “create more living space with less material” using fabric facades and building elements to drive innovation in overall building design. The group is currently building a 36-foot experimental modular tower that will serve as a test site for new fabric-based facades and building technologies that could transform the way buildings are designed, manufactured, operated, and even recycled.
The simple steel strut and concrete tower exists to test new materials for each of its form levels, with a specific focus on folded surface structures, innovative processing of conventional fabrics, geometrically deformable structures, and origami-inspired foldable structures that can be used to create lightweight sandwich panels. The tower was designed with flexibility in mind, so that the fabric-based façades developed by academic and industrial project partners can be tested and replaced if necessary in the coming years.
Allianz Field – Populous Architects
In terms of real-world applications, fabric-based architectural strategies are also making inroads into lighting, especially in the world of sports facility design, where membrane materials like PTFE and other custom fabrics are being used to easily wrap large, often curved stadium geometries.
The Populous-designed Allianz Field soccer stadium in Minneapolis, for example, features a custom, transparent laminated PTFE fabric facade created in collaboration with fabricator Walter P Moore specifically for this project. Stretched over a parametrically designed steel rib substructure, the fabric facade is backlit with 1.700 emotive LED lights that can be programmed to glow on various occasions.
Populous is also responsible for the Daily’s Place Amphitheatre and Flex Field project in Jacksonville, Florida, a unique dual-use space that combines a performance amphitheatre with a practice football field. Fabric roof panels are hung from steel trusses that frame the space. The external steel structure allows for a monolithic fabric ceiling that can be bathed in LED light.
Social Sensory Architectures - Lab for Material Architectures
At the University of Michigan A. Alfred Taubman School of Architecture and Urban Planning, for example, Sean Ahlquist is working across disciplines and with industry and corporate partners to develop articulated material structures and design approaches that “enable the study of spatial behaviors and human interaction.” Ahlquist’s research focuses on using computational design and fabrication to create structures and spaces that “go beyond materialization” to focus on “sensing, feedback, and engagement as critical factors in design exploration,” according to a recent scholarly article he wrote.
Using CNC knitting, hybrid yarns, and other digital fabrication techniques, Ahlquist’s research team is able to generate lightweight prestressed structures, innovations in fabric-reinforced composite materials for aerospace and automotive design, and tactile sensory environments that can serve as “interfaces for physical interaction.”
A recent project for the Columbus exhibition in Columbus, Indiana creates customized textile micro-architectures by manipulating fibers and stitches to generate “simultaneous structural, spatial, and sensory-responsive instrumental qualities” in fabric structures that can be used by children with autism to filter and manage multiple sensory inputs.
The article was translated into Italian from the original “Fabrics could be the next big thing in facades” by Antonio Pacheco on The architect's newspaper
