Sails and some unavailable materials to draw from

The design firm KieranTimberlake has a new building envelope called SmartWrap. It is essentially a polyester film that is extremely versatile. It can be printed on, collect solar energy, change colors, and so on.

While it is certainly beyond our budgetary limitations and looks to be available only through commissioning the firm that developed it, it may serve as some inspiration for a sturdy and translucent building material. Charles' design could definitely take this idea to make it solid yet open.

Firm's page

designboom

democratic underground

As far as the water collecting material inspired by the desert beetle, it looks like it is still under development.

Here is the link to the lab that is making is and some possible product concepts.

article

mesh

dew bank bottle

THinking about how ropes might work in Ellen's design, I looked at some sailboats to think about how to hoist up a covering or surface.