What is ETFE and Why Has it Become Architecture's Favorite Polymer?
The Shed / Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Image © Iwan Baan Until recently, the architecture world largely viewed plastic polymers as inferior building materials, handy for wipe-clean kitchen surfaces, but not practical in full-scale building applications. But with technological innovations driving material capabilities forward, polymers are now being taken seriously as a legitimate part of the architect’s pallet. One of the most widely-used of these materials is a fluorine-based plastic known as ETFE (Ethylene tetrafluoroethylene). Brought into the public consciousness thanks to its use on the facade of PTW Architects' Water Cube for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, architects are now realizing the film’s capabilities to express a new aesthetic and replace costlier transparent and translucent materials. It's most recent and spectacular public appearance was on the 120-foot telescopic shell of The Sheld, designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro in New York City.
