TENSILE FACADES
Fabric membrane is an ideal solution for cladding building facades, either on large structures like stadiums or medium/small size projects like parking garages or office buildings. Tensile facades use the same technology as tensile fabric open air canopies or enclosed roofing utilizing PTFE or PVC membrane, or, with ETFE film applications such as air inflated cushions or single layer with cables.
Attached to a building’s exterior, such as concrete slabs or steel columns, a recent trend is the use of simple, economic and optimized framing systems that allow for the refurbishment of all different kinds of building envelopes, quickly and easily. Due to the lightweight flexible nature of membrane, a tensile fabric facade can span long distances while reducing the need for a lot of structural steel support framing making it an affordable and innovative solution.
A highly sustainable building material for tensile facade cladding applications, tensile fabric membrane maximizes daylight while minimizing solar heat gain and transportation- and fabrication-related waste. With the PVC membranes available in many standard colors and with the ability for printed graphics, nearly any design is possible. A silver-colored mesh fabric is typically specified for a similar aesthetic to aluminum panels, but with greater transparency.
