Serge Ferrari Group Debuts Building Skin for Interiors

Serge Ferrari Group, a manufacturer of flexible composite membranes, recently launched a lightweight and durable building skin intended for indoor spaces. The product, STFE, is ten times lighter than glass and offers light transmission of up to 50 percent, according to a press release.

Designed for use in large, free-spanning architectural spaces like atriums and stadiums, STFE ties into the importance of biophilia and natural light toward comfort and wellness. The product is made from a lightweight polyarylate mesh and reduces the need for supporting structures and steel cables. Its 50-percent light transmission allows large spaces to be filled with natural light while reducing glare, as well as energy costs. Its single layer allows for ease of shaping and resistance to mechanical stress while maintaining flexibility and transparency.

The press release notes that STFE meets the fire retardancy certifications of ASTM E84, NFPA 701 and CSFM T19. More information is available on the Serge Ferrari Group website.

About the Author

Matt Jones is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • Designing for Every Mind

    Learning environments have the power to shape not just what students know, but who they become. When a school is designed with genuine empathy—for the full range of ways students think, sense, and engage with the world—it becomes more than a building. It becomes a catalyst for growth, confidence, and belonging. That is the animating idea behind neurodiverse design, and it is one that is transforming how more architects and designers are thinking about school design.

  • Rethinking K-12 Schools as a Continuous Learning Experience

    Most students move through three or more separate facilities during their K-12 journey, yet the built environments they encounter at each stage have traditionally been designed in isolation, with little continuity in spatial language, learning philosophy, or physical resources. Each new school is a reset with different layouts, learning models, expectations, and ways of moving through a building. The next generation of school design is making the case that the first day of kindergarten and the last day of high school can and should feel connected through common support systems and infrastructure in the physical environment.

  • Planning with Clarity: Using AI to Make Better Campus Decisions, Not Just Better Designs

    Higher education leaders are being asked to make increasingly high-stakes decisions about campus facilities amid greater uncertainty than ever before. Social and economic pressures, shifting enrollment, and evolving learning models compete with growing deferred maintenance needs to strain even the most robust infrastructure budgets.

  • Colorado School District Breaks Ground on Unified PK–12 Campus

    The Haxtun School District No. Re-2J in Haxtun, Colo., recently announced that ground has been broken on a renovation/addition project that will unite its two schools, Haxtun Elementary and Haxtun Jr/Sr High School, according to a news release.