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Featured Business Week Article: The Miracle Polymer for the New Millennium

ETFE (Ethylene Tetrafluoroethylene) is the building material of the future. This wonder polymer, a transparent plastic related to Teflon, is replacing glass and plastic in some of the most innovative buildings being designed and constructed today. Its selling points? Compared to glass, it’s 1% the weight, transmits more light, is a better insulator, and costs 24% to 70% less to install. It’s also resilient (able to bear 400 times its own weight, with an estimated 50-year life-span), self-cleaning (dirt slides off its nonstick surface), and recyclable.

Architects started working with ETFE some 15 years ago. The material will soon get a boost with the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where it’s an integral part of the distinctive designs of both the Beijing National Stadium and Aquatics Center. Here’s a sample of the most ambitious and creative architectural projects around the world that utilize ETFE.

LeMay Museum, 2009
The new home for the Tacoma (Wash.) Harold E. LeMay Museum will house the largest privately owned collection of automobiles, motorcycles, trucks, and vehicle-related memorabilia in the world. The building’s design will visually echo the curved roofs found on vintage cars and will incorporate ETFE in its ceiling and walls. Los Angeles-based Grant Architects says the cavity between the ETFE and the museum’s exterior glass layer will function as a “smart wall,” circulating air to increase the insulating properties of the building. In this image, ETFE is visible on the ceiling of the main shell.

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