Textile membrane design : case-study of a membrane house prototype in Portugal

Abstract

The increasing speed in which technology is developing, as well as the social and economical changes are quickly turning buildings constructive systems and building design methodologies obsolete. The research on faster, cheaper and environmentally more respectfull building technologies are growing concerns in buildings design. These are some of the advantages of textile membranes. In a few millimeters membrane we have a self-supporting material, a sunlight filter capable of absorbing or reflecting the ultraviolet or infrared light and an isolating material for thermic or acoustic purposes. But there is some problems regarding such structures: the complexity of the calculations needed in such a minimalist engineering, regarding its structural design, the visualization of its forms - sometimes complex geometries, and the optimization of its functional performance - limited but also potentiated by its lightness and ephemerality. Computer-aided design has allowed designers of textile membrane structures to calculate its loads and determine their effect on projects quickly and more precisely, exploring various alternatives and options, turning the process not only cheaper, but also exploring new possibilities on the use of more efficient structures. There are also a significant number of softwares available that allow the functional performance evaluation of buildings, and that can also be used to evaluate textile membrane solutions with advantages related with easy and quick prediction of the building thermal performance during its service life. The apparently simple final result is normally the product of a very complex multi-criteria optimization process, from the membranes selection, the building design and calculation and the constructive systems adopted.