Textile architecture: Exploring the potential of fiber assemblies and their application in architecture

Abstract

This paper explores the relationship between textile materials and architecture, and how this relationship changes through collaboration between textile engineers and architects. Rather than evanescent matter and structurally insufficient building material, textile may be observed as a large number of fibers organized into coherent and flexible structures which are permeable by air, water or adjustable to human body and its activities. Certain textile properties have always been a matter of interest for architects and have always offered both an intriguing metaphor and an operative device for architecture throughout its history. Today, textile materials in combination with software, robotics and sensorial devices provide for the renewed inters in adaptable form of architecture and the ability of the built environment to react according to contextual changes. This study examines structural characteristics at the material level and explores further into the constructions of fiber assemblies. The aim is to represent textile as a new material which application and implementation in architecture can influence development of new ideas in creating aesthetic and cultural context.