Shade Sails: Outdoor Rooms Take Wing
Have you noticed outdoor shades with dynamic, futuristic, architectural forms lately? Shade sails are growing in popularity as they become more available on the market. What's so great about them? "Sail shades lend a strong, artful, sculptural look that they impend on a property," says Tres Jones of Wicked Shades. "They provide protection from UV rays, can lower the temperature underneath by about 15 to 20 degrees, yet don't make you feel enclosed when you are sitting underneath them."
What exactly are shade sails? Typically, they're made of a fabric called HDPE (high-density polypropylene mesh), a form of plastic that is about as recyclable as a plastic milk carton. However, they do not have a plastic look to them because of a knitted weave, tautness provided by the tension and porousness. They generally block 90 to 95 percent of the sun's harmful UV rays.
While forms of tensile architecture (meaning with tension only, no compression or bending) are becoming more recognizable in large-scale commerical projects, such as the Denver airport and London's Millennium Dome, designers are experimenting with all the potential they have to transform residential architecture and landscapes. Get ideas for your own shady outdoor room, from freestanding party tents to more architectural elements.
"The addition of a shade sail can make an existing outdoor living space so much more interesting," says Nathaniel Allen, cofounder of Tenshon, a shade sail manufacturer.
Shades are available in almost any size. (Tenshon made a 10,000-square-foot one to cover a sea lion exhibit for a zoo in Louisiana.) You can overlap them to add dimension and more coverage, and use different colors for contrast.
"Shade sails provide a way to experiment with an iconic element in a landscape design," says Allen. And they can provide a temperature drop of up to 20 degrees, he says. "The heat actually rises and escapes through the material's fibers."
After being approached by The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, Allen and his colleagues created these shades that were in keeping with Wright's original vision at Taliesin West, the foundation's headquarters.
What exactly are shade sails? Typically, they're made of a fabric called HDPE (high-density polypropylene mesh), a form of plastic that is about as recyclable as a plastic milk carton. However, they do not have a plastic look to them because of a knitted weave, tautness provided by the tension and porousness. They generally block 90 to 95 percent of the sun's harmful UV rays.
While forms of tensile architecture (meaning with tension only, no compression or bending) are becoming more recognizable in large-scale commerical projects, such as the Denver airport and London's Millennium Dome, designers are experimenting with all the potential they have to transform residential architecture and landscapes. Get ideas for your own shady outdoor room, from freestanding party tents to more architectural elements.
"The addition of a shade sail can make an existing outdoor living space so much more interesting," says Nathaniel Allen, cofounder of Tenshon, a shade sail manufacturer.
Shades are available in almost any size. (Tenshon made a 10,000-square-foot one to cover a sea lion exhibit for a zoo in Louisiana.) You can overlap them to add dimension and more coverage, and use different colors for contrast.
"Shade sails provide a way to experiment with an iconic element in a landscape design," says Allen. And they can provide a temperature drop of up to 20 degrees, he says. "The heat actually rises and escapes through the material's fibers."
After being approached by The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, Allen and his colleagues created these shades that were in keeping with Wright's original vision at Taliesin West, the foundation's headquarters.
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