advanced building skins 14 | 15 June 2012 - lamp.tugraz.at - Graz ...

Prof. Dr.nat.techn. Oliver Englhardt
Institute of Building Construction
Graz University of Technology
Copyright © with the authors. All rights reserved.
Tensiwall - The Case for a Multi-layered Textile
Facade System
Summary
Mark Chiu, Membrane Systems Specialist
Curtainwall Design & Consulting, USA, mchiu@cdc-usa.com, cdc-usa.com
A facade is the interface between building and environment, between indoor and outdoor;
therefore it has a functional quality. The facade is also the first component to be seen of any
building; therefore it has an aesthetic quality that it needs to achieve. Currently, advanced facade
materials are dichotomized in two categories: heavy and transparent materials (glass), requiring
significant structural material usage; or lightweight and opaque materials, depriving the interior of
natural light. This has brought about the development of Tensiwall, an innovative exterior wall
system based on a textile facade. By combining the properties of various tensioned membranes, an
advanced and highly aesthetic multi-layered textile building skin can function as a cost-effective,
lightweight, light-transmissive, and highly insulative facade system.
Keywords: Textile, Fabric, Membrane, Tension, Materials
1 Inherent Materials Properties
Facades are constructed of various materials, and the properties of these materials create very different
facade systems. This section discusses today’s materials, and how their inherent properties influence
their use. The studied material groups are stone, metal, glass, brick, concrete, wood, plastic, textile,
and composite. Most material groups are self-explanatory by name however it is to be noted that the
textile group is not a material one but rather a compositional shape group. The two textiles researched
in this group are made of one of the previously mentioned material groups, but constructed in an
innovative way to produce new material application properties. The final group, composite, is once
again a group of elements constructed using other material groups, creating one performative material.
Figure 1 gives a visual illustration of the groupings of these different materials. As the basis for
comparison, these material groups must be compared relative to their inherent properties (Figure 2).
Figure 1: Materials Groups
- 1 -