The exhibition “Textile architecture” features the result of how two architects and a textile designer have collaborated and experimented with designing textile modules to improve the sound landscape in urban spaces.

The exhibition is one of the results of an artistic research project, “Urban Materiality – Towards New Collaborations in Textile and Architectural Design”, with funding from the Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet) /Artistic research, that is ongoing from 2016 to 2019.

A workshop was performed in connection to the exhibition on the 25th of November with one architect, one interior architect and three textile designers.

Exhibited at Form/Design Center in Malmö, vernissage 13 November 2019, exhibition open 13 November 2019 till 12 January 2020.

See digital folder in Swedish and English. The curtain and the carpet are used as metaphors and the interior and exterior change place. Facades are dressed by textile modules, and are based on architect Gottfried Semper’s principle of “dressing” (bekleidung) from the 19th century, but also on Japanese architecture where spaces are formed through layers that interact. The modules contribute to the absorption of sound in noisy urban environments. In the project, maps of “soundscapes” were made to find the sonic identity of a place, which then was analysed through the use of a number of sonic effects. This is to identify which sounds and sound frequencies that are desirable to dampen. Today, building facades are often designed to be perfect, and facade materials are replaced prematurely, even though the materials have a longer life. We want to change the approach to facade materials, and also demonstrate sustainable alternatives. The woven and hand tufted facade modules can temporarily patch facades during building renovations or become parts of new facades. Using textiles outdoors in facades is unexpected and evokes wonder – can a textile facade module resist outdoor climate? A starting point in the project has been to design textile “disturbances” in the urban landscape, which can give rise to positive experiences of something “non-perfect”. Here, the project connects to aesthetic approaches in the Japanese tea culture. The “incomplete” tea bowls, used in the Japanese tea ceremony, evoke wonder through the unsymmetrical form and the crackled glazing. In this way, bridges can be built between consciousness and objects. The exhibition also raises the question of what textile architecture is and can be. A slide show with various interpretations from both textile design and architecture is shown, for example projects by the design studio Inside Outside | Petra Blaisse and the architectural office Kengo Kuma and Associates.