Textile Architecture is both a designed structure (a product) and a design research method or system (a process) that explores the potential for textiles to be used in creating infinite variations of free-standing architectural structures. The intent behind this research was not to provide immediate solutions to building scale pavilions or temporary structures. Rather it is the beginning of an exploration into what is possible, and the prototype is a proof of concept. 

If textiles are used to solve other design challenges, why not apply them to architecture too? Textile-based architecture is perfectly suited to occupy the space between permanent architecture (houses, apartment buildings, institutions, skyscrapers, etc.) and temporary spaces (tents, pavilions, shade structures). Textile architecture can be useful in seasonal industries, temporary spaces (pop-ups, festivals), disaster relief, in places where permanent architecture can harm the natural environment, or places affected by climate change. I am not suggesting that we should replace all permanent structures with textile architecture but rather allow textiles to be another system of building available to define space. Textile architecture can fill the gaps that traditional architecture created by providing solutions to the in-between spaces;  semi-permanent spaces, inside/outside, semi-private/semi-public. But much more importantly, it is lightweight, and therefore provides a solution to one of the most pressing environmental problems of our time.

Over the past year, I have gained the skills—specifically working with the jacquard loom— necessary to execute a project I have long imagined. I have pushed my understanding of how weave structure, fiber content, and weaving and finishing processes could be engineered to create an architectural structure made of continuous textile material. While I knew that weaving as a design process had qualities advantageous to architecture, i.e. it can create a continuous surface in both the warp and weft direction, allowing for material strength and performance; in addition to skills, I also needed a set of criteria, restrictions, and parameters in which to make decisions. 

Early in the design process, I established four guiding principles for the structure:

1. it must be as self-supporting as possible
2. it must be easy to transport
3. the jacquard textile could not be cut into
4. finishing processes would be minimal

My process was guided by the verbs illustrated below. Fold, Translate, Weave, Finish, Model, Install. 

My research based process exposed me to architects and designers who have been working at the intersection of textiles and architecture with goals similar to my own. The advantage of textile driven architecture would be that architectural elements could be incorporated into the textile directly off the loom.

It would reverse the relationship between textiles and architecture from textiles selected to meet architectural purposes to textiles designed to be architectural elements.

My research led me to question what would have happened had textile designers been collaborators from the inception of the project. Further, what if a textile designer had actually taken a lead role in designing lightweight architecture?