Witness the rise of a revolutionary pre-stressed fabric panel system that looks set to make big changes in the way many structures get built, look and perform. Could it make a difference to you? Read on and decide.
The new system is called TEXO® and it’s the brainchild of the Italian company Tensoforma. The big breakthrough is the development of a clever carrier frame that elevates tensile fabric to an exciting overcladding system. PLUS it is creating a welter of new applications.
How does TEXO work?
TEXO consists of a patented aluminium extrusion frame which can be clad with a wide variety of fabric types including PVC and silicone fabrics, meshes and even ETFE foils.
An elastomeric strip attached to the fabric perimeter acts like a spring and ensures the fabric is constantly held in pre-tension; even under constant wind loading the fabric will never go slack. As all the fabric tensile loads are ‘contained’ within the frame they are not transferred into the building. The result is an extremely lightweight and versatile cladding system.
Building and skinning the frames takes place in the controlled environment of the factory so finished panels can be delivered to site ready to bolt onto the first fix cladding rails in a fraction of the time taken with traditional building methods, and with less plant than other heavy weight prefabricated systems.
Not just a pretty face
• The system has been specified by some very forward thinking designers including Renzo Piano. – As for built projects there are a few in the UK, but mostly in Italy itself, the Middle East and in China… one stunning example being the Shanghai World Expo 2010 UBPA pavilion.• TEXO is already certified as ‘external wall façade cladding panels’ by CSTB of Paris having tested it to windspeeds up to 216 miles an hour.
• To date 50,000m2 of TEXO have been installed.
So, hugely versatile and very, very clever. In the next few blogs I’ll be talking about using TEXO with ETFE cladding as a high translucency answer for roofs and walls, and a few other nifty notions – including radically reducing your energy bills. Stay tuned!
Ps: you can take a peek at some TEXO structures here.