ETFE

Annette LeCuyer is an architect and a professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo.

• Foreword Ian Liddell 1. Introduction: Pleasure, Power and Payloadevolution of balloons / the pneumatic imaginationevolution of concepts of ideal environment – Garden of Eden to Crystal Palace 2. The Pneumatic Imagination: Architectural Ideas and ApplicationsConcepts of lightness, efficiency (doing more with less) and total environments as developed by Buckminster Fuller, Walter Bird, Frei Otto and Archigram 3. Material Matters: ETFEMaterial ingredients/chemical makeup, manufacture/processing, propertiesWho developed ETFE, original use and subsequent applications outside architecture and building constructionmanufacturing of ETFE films (cutting and patterning, welding, printing)first generation ETFE architectural projects -Munich Olympics maintenance depot (Gunter Behnisch)-Botanical and aquatic enclosures in Germany and the Netherlands- Vector/Foiltec Design and Production Stefan Lehnart 4. Soft Structurecharacteristics of the material: yield, equilibrium with air pressurecharacteristics of the cushion system; fluid damping, synclastic system, size and shape, span, air pressure, camber, lighter primary structure, elimination of secondary structure, temperature and humidity, creep, edge stresses / edge details, puncture / repair 5. The Performative SkinLight transmission / UV transmissionDegradationThermal performanceAcousticsFireSustainability – raw materials, embodied energy, energy consumption in use, recycling, Cradle-to-cradleEnergy production / photovoltaics 6. Environmongery - The Variable SkinAbility to change light transmission, thermal attributes and appearance through variable air pressure 7. Life Safety 8. The Communicative Skin 9. The Climatic Envelope: The Next Generation-Projects now on the drawing boards offer the potential of achieving the large environmental envelopes envisioned by Fuller, Otto and others.-Implications/projections/crystal gazing Public vs private realmsLiberation vs captivation (internal freedom vs external control)Flexibility vs monocultureSustainability and the environment Afterword Ben Morris Project credits Bibliography Acknowledgments / image credits