A typology of adaptive façades. An empirical study based on the morphology of glazed facades

Abstract

A building's façade is its main interface with the external environment. Adaptive façade, one recent invention in the façade industry, has the capability to change its behaviour in real-time to respond to internal and/or external parameters, by means of materials, components, and systems. Among these, the adaptive shading and the façade glazing are two components that must fit together. This paper focuses on the spatial relationship between these components. It presents the results of the morphological analysis of façades with adaptive shading systems and the spatial relation between the adaptive shading system and the building's glass envelope. To characterise this relation, we formulated two measures: depth and distance. The results revealed four types of such relations: (i) the shading elements are located outside the building's glass envelope, (ii) they are covered by the glass envelope, (iii) they are located between the layers of the glazing façade, and (iv) they represent thin coatings that are flush with the surface of the glass. These results provide important insights into the emergence of new aesthetical trends in architecture, especially given the most recent technologies adopted in façades. In conclusion, we bring empirical evidence that the location of the shading system in relation to the glass envelope of a building is the key morphological Marcin Brzezicki

Decision Support for Defining Adaptive Façade Design Goals in the Early Design Phase

“…All of these provide a useful overview of their topic but are not aiming to generate a broader understanding of AFs. In general, multi-criteria investigations covering different areas of AFs are rare in this context [44]. To investigate the solution collections in particular with a comparable broader objective, a minimum limit of AF solutions is introduced.…”

“…Although this is not possible with solution collections in tabular form on paper (and not necessary with a small number of entries), the comparability exponentially worsens with the number of entries, which makes the functionality of easily comparing entries (and therefore digitalization) especially necessary for larger-scale collections. It can also be seen that the more comprehensive collections most often focus on either the classification criteria [21,47] or the entries [44,52]. However, taking a closer look at the two solution collections with many entries, it becomes clear that only the solution collection by Loonen [44] deals solely with AFs.…”

“…It can also be seen that the more comprehensive collections most often focus on either the classification criteria [21,47] or the entries [44,52]. However, taking a closer look at the two solution collections with many entries, it becomes clear that only the solution collection by Loonen [44] deals solely with AFs. In the solution collection on Pinterest [52], around half of the façades are not seen as adaptive according to the definition of automatization in Section 1.…”

Optimization of Useful Daylight Illuminance for Vertical Shading Fins Covered by Photovoltaic Panels for a Case Study of an Office Room in the City of Wroclaw, Poland

“…For length L = 1 m and spatial distance d = 0.571 m (for nopt = 8 fins), the shading phenomenon does not occur if α ∈ (39.5°, 140.5°). If condition (5) is satisfied, the shaded area Ash is calculated from the formula: 𝐴 = 𝐻 • 𝑧 − (2𝑥 + 𝑑) sin(𝛼) (7) where H is the height of the fin, which is equal to 4 m. The resultant unshaded area of PV system APV, which consists of n fins, is defined as: Based on the geometric and trigonometric relationships, one can derive the formulas for z and x:…”

“…Given the high expectations for the continuous reduction of CO 2 emissions, it has become evident that the current building envelope systems will not be able to satisfy new EU requirements. The invention of the adaptive facade transforms a passive and static facade into a unique system that resembles a living organism, the elements of which react to the changes in the internal and external environment [7]. The hereby proposed adaptive facade is a "complex system that in terms of spatial configurations and the behavior of its external skin" [8] improves the indoor visual comfort in a test room and generates electricity as a building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) system.…”