Newport Beach, Calif., is the largest recreational harbor on the West Coast, hosting arts and cultural institutions and a vigorous tourist trade. The sprawling, obsolete City Hall didn’t meet standards for seismic safety or the Americans with Disabilities Act, so Newport Beach recently completed a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) silver-certified civic center complex that reflects the community’s coastal lifestyle—right down to a curved, sail-shaped fabric façade made from SEFAR® Architecture’s 4T40HF TENARA®, woven from PTFE yarn and coated with PTFE.

SEFAR Architecture, Depew, N.Y., manufactures ePTFE yarn fabrics and fabric systems for architectural applications. The TENARA sail envelopes the nearby double-height city council chambers, allowing 40 percent visual light transmission and an effect reminiscent of light shimmering on the ocean. The fabric, which is free of potentially toxic plasticizers, is a more sustainable option. It also brings high tensile strength, blemish resistance and a Class A fire rating to a challenging fabric architecture project. To learn more, visit the TENARA® fabric website.