Tensile Materials / Benefits of Insulated Fabric Structures

The rules of architectural design change dramatically when it comes to insulated fabric structures.

The Dancing Wings Butterfly Garden, part of the Strong National Museum of Play, Rochester, NY, is an example of how extraordinary results can be achieved by investing ordinary budgets in Birdair tensile architecture. The cost to produce this uniquely formed longspan roof using any other design methodology but tensile architecture would have been a cost-prohibitive impossibility. Birdair makes the extraordinary attainable.

Birdair insulated fabric structures also offer a variety of sustainable benefits, including reduced material usage and the incorporation of metals with a high degree of recycled content. Fabric membrane's inherent translucency additionally allows maximum daylight to filter through it, offering optimum daylight harvesting. The introduction of Tensotherm™ with Lumira™ aerogel fabric membrane now also allows Birdair tensile fabric membrane roofs to optimize thermal efficiencies, helping to reduce a structure's carbon footprint.

Life-cycle analyses indicate that Birdair fabric membrane roofs are built to last, and real world installations prove it. For example, the Sports Science and Athletic Pavilion at the University of LaVerne, LaVerne, CA, features its original 35-year-old PTFE fiberglass fabric membrane roof. The fabric membrane structure continues to maintain its aesthetic appeal, functionality and minimal maintenance requirements, even after 35 years.

Attention Architects!

Earn 1 LU/SD/HSW credit with our new AIA/CES course – Defying Gravity with Tensile Architecture – now available on TheContinuingArchitect.com. In the course you will explore the benefits of tensile architecture and structures over traditional building techniques and more.