In 2002 in Delft, Netherlands the exhibition Future Materials for Architecture & Design was presented to the public. At the exhibition a material (see figure 1) was shown that was developed by Lightweight Structures B.V.. It was also listed in the exhibition's catalogue.
Apparently the appearance of this material is attractive to many architects and designers. Since the opening of the exhibition they have been addressing us with questions about the commercial availability of the material.

Actually the material was never developed for architectural or design purposes. It was manufactured for one of our projects: thermoplastic composites in coach building. This composite material consists of glass fibre reinforced polypropylene flat tapes (width approx. 12 mm, thickness 1 mm) applied as warp in a fabric with thin black fibres as weft (hence the whitish and black appearance). By heating and compression moulding this fabric, flat or curved panels can be manufactured resulting in the appearance of figure 1.

Because of the relatively high strength and stiffness of the glass fibre reinforced polypropylene the material is suitable for application in load-bearing structures like road vehicle coaches. The use of thermoplastic polypropylene facilitates recycling.

From an engineering point of view this composite material is neither new nor exotic. Both glass fibres and polypropylene are low cost bulk materials with a wide range of applications. 

Unfortunately the material shown is not in the market now. The glass fibre/polypropylene tapes however are available. It is possible to weave these tapes again with any coloured weft fibre and turn them into panels by compression moulding. All the required facilities are available in the Netherlands.
For another application we expect to start manufacturing glass/polypropylene tapes and weaves again in the second half of 2006.

We have been addressed several times by architects about the use of composites in building and construction in general and about our "future" material in particular.
If you would like to have further information please let us know at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it !