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Textile facades: features and examples

Textile facades introduce an innovative approach to architecture with their outstanding features and advantages. They are lightweight and highly customizable, providing unparalleled flexibility for designing. Textile facade structures offer excellent insulation from both heat and sound, making them perfect for climates with extreme temperatures. Additionally, their open-weave compositions reduce condensation build-up and allow natural ventilation to pass through. Examples of noteworthy textile facades are a terraced stairwell in California, a shopping mall in Turkey, and an office block in Norway. Each of these exemplary structures demonstrates the alluring potential of textile facades.

Modern technologies make it possible to use fabrics to decorate the facades of houses. Our site of advice decided to figure out what textile facades can be, what materials are they made of, whether they have noticeable advantages and additional properties.

Textile facades: features and examples

Textile facades were invented more than 30 years ago, but this technology has not yet gained widespread acceptance and continues to develop. For our country, fabric facades are generally new, and in Germany, for example, there is a whole Institute of Textile Technology, which is studying the possibilities of such materials..

Textile facades can be made from:

  • Metallic coated fabrics.
  • Polyester, it is translucent, inexpensive, but lasts no more than 15 years and is susceptible to dirt.
  • Fiberglass. A much more durable version, lasts up to 40 years, but you can’t print a bright print on it.
  • Light Transmitting PTFE Fabrics.
  • Open cell fabrics, mesh.
  • “Smart” fabrics that have thermal and heating properties due to the interweaving of electrically conductive fibers.

Textile facades: features and examples

The fabric is attached to the facade of the building thanks to the frame, most often aluminum. The main requirement for textiles is fire resistance, such fabrics are always slow-burning, not supporting fire. Textiles can be washed under high pressure thanks to a special sink, the selection and use of which the portal devoted a separate article to. And in the case of a high degree of wear and tear, the fabric on the facade simply changes, which gives ample opportunities for experiments with the design of buildings..

Textile facades: features and examples

The main advantage of textile facades is that in summer they do not allow the building to warm up, which significantly reduces the cost of air conditioning. And in winter they keep heat, creating a thermal layer between the wall of the building and the street. Even adaptive, “smart” textile facades have been created that adapt to climate conditions and in winter, for example, allow the sun’s rays to fall on the facade, warming it.

Textile facades: features and examples

Experts are confident that textile facades have a great future due to the following capabilities and properties:

  • A wide range of colors, the ability to apply 3D images. This allows you to create a unique exterior of buildings, including private houses..
  • Waterproof. Membranes protect walls from rain.
  • Opacity. The light transmission of the hinged panels can be adjusted to protect the house from sunlight in summer.
  • Elasticity. Fabric membranes are wind resistant, durable enough.
  • The low cost of installing the frame and the ability to wash or replace the fabric, if necessary, make such facades commercially effective, profitable.

Textile facades: features and examples

Today, curtain-sided textile facades are most commonly used in commercial buildings. But, according to experts, they also have a lot of advantages in private housing construction. Remember when you shaded your terrace or veranda in the summer with building nets? Nice cooling effect, right? Now imagine that the whole house is literally wrapped in a special cloth. Such a spectacular facade saves energy. And the use of “smart”, adaptive fabrics offers new benefits. For example, there are already textiles that can purify the air entering the rooms of the house..

The most popular manufacturers of facade textiles and metal structures for them today are Roho and Schuco.

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Comments: 2
  1. Wyatt Clarke

    Could you please provide more information on the features and examples of textile facades?

    Reply
    1. Dominic Taylor

      Textile facades are innovative architectural elements that use textiles as a cladding material instead of traditional ones like glass or concrete. They offer several features that make them attractive for modern buildings. Firstly, textiles are lightweight, flexible, and can be easily customized in terms of color, texture, and pattern. This allows architects to create unique and visually striking facades. Secondly, textile facades can provide various performance benefits such as solar control, ventilation, and thermal insulation. They can also be designed to be transparent, allowing natural light to penetrate while maintaining privacy. Examples of textile facades can be found in iconic buildings worldwide, such as the Allianz Arena in Munich, which features a dynamic color-changing textile membrane, or the Heydar Aliyev Center in Baku, where a flowing curved textile facade adds a distinctive touch to the building’s design. Overall, textile facades offer a versatile and sustainable solution for contemporary architecture.

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