Date of Award
Spring 6-1-2024
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Architecture (MArch)
Department
Architecture
First Advisor
Junko Yamamoto
Second Advisor
Leeland McPhail
Abstract
Textile Tectonics: Shaping Space Through Soft Studies challenges the conventional use of fabric as an architectural material, seeking to expand its potential utilization in architectural spaces through re-thinking the partition wall.
Architecturally, textiles tend to exist in tension, attached to a support structure that provides the pliable, planar material a fixed form. The sensory qualities of the material (its ability to filter light and the way it moves in response to outside factors) along with the material’s practical qualities (its light weight, flexibility, and acoustic properties) make textiles a popular choice for architectural spaces—but there is a narrow understanding in practice of how it can be used to reshape existing spaces.
My thesis project seeks to extend the possibilities of fabric’s application in architectural spaces and challenges pre-existing material conventions through the design of a self-supporting fabric partition wall. Design considerations from the micro to macro scale allow for the fabric to begin to act in compression, pushing our understanding of fabric's inherent strength. Considerations from the fabric's weave to the formal expression of the curve impart strength and rigidity onto the soft material through this re-imagined spatial condition.
Recommended Citation
Gunderson, Lela, "Textile Tectonics: Shaping Space Through Soft Studies" (2024). Masters Theses. 1235.
https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/masterstheses/1235
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