Powerskin Conference: Proceedings

The “third skin†of human beings – the building envelope – has a long history of development with a major impact on architecture. As an interface between inside and outside, facades not only determine aspects such as performance and energy efficiency, they also determine the aesthetics of buildings and cities; to the extend that they can create cultural identity. The invention of the curtain wall made facades independent from the building structure, but it remained an important – yet passive – element.  Powerskin Conference: Proceedings, January 19th 2017– Munich &nbsp

Exploring the role of digital technology in enhancing an environmentally responsive architecture: toward a fog water harvesting and visitors centre on Signal Hill

Master of Architecture. University of KwaZulu-Natal, DurbanThe development and progression of architecture throughout the ages has been for the most part as a result of the influence of new technologies. Today, more environmentally responsible and innovative buildings are being constructed thanks to research and developments in technology. As the information age transforms into the digital age, the trend for digital integration into every-day life is becoming the norm. Concurrently, the promotion of sustainable living in our society has been facilitated by digital technology. While digital technology and sustainable living might seem like completely different fields, they are more interconnected than we may believe. This dissertation explores how digital technology can enhance an environmentally responsive architecture. The thesis provides principles for developing a connection between digital technology and environmental architecture in order to facilitate a sustainable approach toward sourcing water

ne–xt facades: Proceedings of the COST Action TU1403 Adaptive Facades Network Mid-term Conference

The ne-xt facades conference is the official International Mid-term Conference of the European COST Action TU1403 ‘Adaptive Facades Network’, an international scientific cooperation with the aim to harmonise, share and disseminate technological knowledge on adaptive facades on the European level. During the mid-term conference first results are presented to stakeholders from industry and design and to the public. The goal is to share knowledge and discuss novel facade concepts, effective evaluation tools and design methods for adaptive facades. Alongside the contributions from members of the COST Action, the conference received many contributions from external researchers and the industry. This added to the interesting debate about adaptive facades we believe it was an excellent stage to test the first results of the COST Action

Namares—A Surface Inventory and Intervention Assessment Model for Urban Resource Management

Densely built-up areas are challenged by reduced biodiversity, high volumes of runoff water, reduced evaporation, and heat accumulation. Such phenomena are associated with imperviousness and low, unsustainable utilisation of land and exterior building surfaces. Local authorities have multiple objectives when (re-)developing future-proof districts. Hence, exploiting local potentials to mitigate adverse anthropogenic effects and managing the resource of urban land/surfaces have become key priorities. Accordingly, a five-level hierarchy for a land-sensitive urban development strategy was derived. To support the operationalisation of the hierarchy, we present the model Namares, a highly resolved GIS-based approach to enable spatially explicit identification and techno-economic and environmental assessment of intervention measures for advantageous utilisation of available surfaces per land parcel. It uses existing data and covers the management of economic, natural, and technical resources. Nine intervention measures are implemented to identify potentials, estimate investments and annual costs, and assess the appeal of existing subsidies. The approach was applied to a case study redevelopment area in a large city in Germany. The results provide spatially explicit information on greening potentials, estimated investments, subsidy demand, and other quantified benefits. The case study results show the limited potential for additional unsealing of impervious surfaces by transforming ca. 10% of sealed ground surface area into new urban gardens. At the same time, up to 47% of roof and 30% of facade surfaces could be utilised for greening and energy harvesting. The approach enables a comprehensive localisation and quantitative assessment of intervention potentials to enhance decision support in land-sensitive urban development strategies

Tracer gas techniques for airflow characterization in double skin facades

Monitoring airflow rates and fluid dynamics phenomena in the ventilated cavity is a challenging aspect of the experimental assessment of the performance of double-skin facades (DSF). There are various methods to characterize the fluid-dynamics behavior of DSF, but each of these has its advantages and drawbacks. This paper presents the airflow characterization in the cavity of a double-skin façade installed in a full-scale outdoor facility through various methods, and, more specifically, it compares two tracer gas methods with the velocity traverse method. In the paper, we highlight how different characterization results can be explained by considering the features of each method, and how these differences are linked to velocity ranges and airflows in the cavity. By discussing (i) the challenges of these methods and their applicability, (ii) the requirements in terms of experimental set-up and (iii) the limitations linked to instrumentation, we aim to enhance the discussion on experimental methods for advanced building envelope characterization and contribute to a more grounded understanding of the suitability of tracer gas methods for in-field characterization of airflows in facades

Adaptive facade network — Europe

Energy efficient buildings significantly contribute to meeting the EU climate and energy sustainability targets for 2020 as approximately one-third of all end-user energy in Europe today is consumed by space heating/cooling, ventilation and lighting of buildings. In this context, the energy performance of future building envelopes will play a key role.  The main aim of COST Action TU1403 with 120 participants from 26 European countries is to harmonise, share and disseminate technological knowledge on adaptive facades on a European level and to generate ideas for new innovative technologies and solutions