Textile architecture has been captivating humanity for many centuries. In recent years and decades, the emergence of innovative materials has created new opportunities to utilize this fascinating material in the fields of architecture, interior design, and design. Textiles derive their fascination from the special forms these fabric structures make possible and from their unusual character as soft materials. Together with their functional and structural properties, they possess a range of capabilities equally suitable for spectacular and everyday building tasks. This book deals with technical textiles in three sections: in the fi rst chapter, the material is introduced together with its specific properties; the second chapter deals with its uses in the areas of architecture, textile facades, solar protection, and interior design, with special attention to finishing techniques and construction principles. The third chapter illustrates the various fields of application with a selection of some twenty-four international built projects.

Autorentext

René MOTRO received the B.Eng. degree in civil engineering form the Institut National Supérieur des Sciences Appliqués, Lyon, France, in 1968, and the Ph.D. degree from the Université Paul Sabatier in 1975. Doctor in Sciences since 1983 at Montpellier University, he is now Full Professor. He has been the head of the Laboratoire de Mécanique et de Génie Civil (LMGC), Montpellier, France until December 2003. He was a scientific advisor for the "Art de l'ingénieur" exhibition, held at the Centre Pompidou, Paris, in 1997. In 2004, he organized the annual symposium of the International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures (IASS). He received several distinctions including the "Tsuboi Award" from the IASS in 1998 and 2007, and the "pioneer Award" from the Research Centre for Space Structures, Guildford, U.K., for his work on tensegrity structures and other space structures. He authored more than 200 peer-reviewed scientific papers, 19 chapters in collective books, and he also authored the book Tensegrity: Structural Systems for the Future (Hermes Penton Sciences, 2003).