The advantages of textile architecture
Play with transparency and lightness with a contemporary and 100% recyclable material.
Tensile roofs add character to a building thanks to the fluidity and airiness of the forms created. They have become a hallmark of contemporary architecture. The geometry of a timber or steel frame used in conjunction with a membrane and combined with elegantly ancillary detailing elements, enable a vast array of architectural expressions to be obtained.
An architecture of light and lightness to sublimate the projects.
Our integrated design office calculates and designs all types of structures with no limits to creativity. The translucency of the textile membranes can be used by a designer to work with the manifestation of light and shadow.
Famous examples of textile coverings
The textile cover is a prestigious technology used on major international structures:
- SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, 2020
- Mercedes-Benz stadium in Atlanta, 2017
- BC Place stadium in Vancouver, 1983
The membranes are appreciated for their translucency, their freedom of form and their technical performance:
- High mechanical resistance
- Thermal quality
- Acoustic quality
Characteristics and performance of the textile membrane
Textile envelopes are made of polyester fabric with PVC coating and antifouling varnish. On average, they have the following characteristics:
- Thickness: 1 to 2 inch.
- Weight: 16.6 to 35.5 lb/ft2
- Tensile strength of 300 to 800 daN/5cm in warp and weft
- Colour: white or specific colour
- Translucency from 5 to 30
- Anti-fouling varnish based on fluorinated polymer
- 20-30 year product guarantee.
The characteristics of the fabrics are defined for each work by defining in particular the resistance to rupture according to the tensions under climatic stresses.
Standards to be met for this type of cover
In accordance with the following design standards, roofs with textile coverings must be installed with a double reverse curvature to ensure their perfect mechanical stability and durability.
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- Recommendations for the design of permanent textile roofing structures in the ITBTP annals.
- Guide VERITAS des Techniques de la construction, sheet N° 40r ” Conception des couvertures textiles “.
- European Design Guide for Tensile Surface Structure (Brian Foster & Marijke Mollaert).
- USA’s IBC & SCE 55-10 & ASCE 55-16 “Tensile Membrane Structures”
- Canadian’s NBC & CSA S367-12 “Air-,cable-, and frame-supported membrane structures”
