Project. The iconic Milford Plaza Hotel first opened in New York City’s theatre district in 1928. Today, it remains one of Manhattan’s largest hotels, and now includes an Internet café and coffee shop adorned with a Lightframe illuminated fabric wall backdrop from SEFAR® Architecture.
Concept/Design. The Lightframe modules were built with SEFAR® Architecture’s IA-80-CL PVDF acoustic fabric that allows 80 percent light transmission. The light-technical and acoustic fabric provides echo absorption through its uncoated textile structure. Lightframe creates a pleasant and highly stylized space inside the Milford Plaza Hotel by providing uniform light transmission. The illuminated dual fabric system casts virtually no shadows due to its half-elliptical profile. The custom modules are hinged to allow direct access to the curtain wall behind for cleaning and maintenance.
Construction. SEFAR LIGHTFRAME® is the only fabric tensioning system available that can provide both significant light diffusion and acoustic improvements. It features dual wrinkle-free, high light-diffusing architectural fabrics biaxially stretched over a razor-thin, modular frame system. Lightframe’s unique secondary membrane allows it to diffuse light while improving acoustics. The dual skin system is airtight and eliminates penetration of dust and insects on the fabric membrane, which can inhibit the transference of light over time.
The fabric used in the illuminated 170 m2 Lightframe system is a low-maintenance material. It resists moisture and dirt, meets all fire code requirements, and is free of VOCs. The fabric material is also ASTM E84 Class A Fire rated. In the event of a fire, the fabric used with SEFAR LIGHTFRAME® produces very little smoke and instead of dripping, it dissipates.
