Abstract
The basic idea for a textile architecture project originates during early meetings between the architect and the engineer. The morphologic richness of such projects is provided by the varying curvatures of shapes, in contradiction with a classical straight line and orthogonal architecture. However the rules of construction are quite different in terms of realisation and of mechanical behaviour: textile membranes are subjected to a pre-stress conferring them their rigidity, and a major objective is to manage the coupling between internal forces and curvatures for a given material. This explains the necessity of collaborative work between architects and engineers from the early stages of the conceptual design process, in order to offer the best morphological expression while ensuring the feasibility of the project.