ADAPTIVE BUILDING AND SKIN:AN INNOVATIVE COMPUTATIONAL WORKFLOW TO DESIGN ENERGY EFFICIENT BUILDINGS IN DIFFERENT CLIMATE ZONES

This research aims at developing an innovative methodology and the related computational workflow to design energy efficient buildings equipped with climate responsive building skins able to respond dynamically to environmental conditions changing over the time.This methodology,called Adaptive Building and Skin(AB&S),is applicable in different climate zones and consists of a computational form-finding method,which supports architects and engineers in the buildings’design process resulting in buildings with optimized energy performance and a high level of indoor and outdoor comfort under changing environmental conditions.The innovativeness of AB&S lies in the fact that it includes the entire design process and considers several internal and external inputs to find the best solutions at all scales of a project:starting from the micro urban-scale with the design of the site and of the building shape,down to the building-scale and finally the skin-scale.Applicability and functionality of AB&S has been tested and improved in the design of office buildings located in specific cities located in different climate zones(cold,temperate,tropical and subtropical).Results of the application in Berlin,Germany,are presented in detail in this paper.

TOWARDS AN ACTIVE, RESPONSIVE, AND SOLAR BUILDING ENVELOPE

The key role of the building envelope in achieving building energy efficiency and indoor comfort for the user has been long established.The most promising-and innovative-strategy for the building envelope of the future is based on a dynamic,active and integrated solution,that is able to optimize the thermal performance,integrate the active elements and systems,and exploit energy from renewable sources.This paper illustrates the most relevant results of a decade-long research activity carried out on active and integrated building envelopes at the Politecnico di Torino,in which numerical analyses and experimental campaigns,involving test cells and field monitoring,have been performed.The overall performances of different façade modules and the thermo-physical behaviour of various components,under different operating strategies,are presented and discussed.The analysis provides information on the contribution of each subsystem,e.g.glazing,sun-shading devices,natural and mechanical ventilation,...to the achieved energy efficiency and the overall performances of different typologies of Double-Skin Façades(DSFs)and Advanced Integrated Façades(AIFs).