ADAPTABLE BUILDING ENVELOPES:

AN APPROACH TOWARDS
SUSTAINABILITY

SEMINAR

LITERATURE REVIEW BY- A.SUGANESH – 1130100348

Introduction
ENVELOPES
• Since the beginning, human beings frantically sought for confined
spaces within which they could be safe and comfortable.

• Soon realized that a confined space could also be an effective

measure to create a thermally comfort environment, to enhance such
function the attention was focused on the building envelope.

Underlying idea
• Creating a shield, able to protect the built environment, climatised
from the weather and strains of external climate.

Key role
• Attaining building energy efficiency and satisfactory indoor comfort

• Control the energy and mass flow from outdoor to indoor

Focus
• Increasing and optimizing the thermal insulation and visual comfort of
the envelope.

Perino, M., & Serra, V. (2015). Switching from static to adaptable and dynamic building
envelopes: A paradigm shift for the energy efficiency in buildings. Journal of Facade Design and
Engineering, 3(2), 143-163. doi:10.3233/fde-150039
Past building envelope (STATIC) ENVELOPES
• Assumed the shape of massive opaque walls with only few and small
transparent openings.

• Difficulty in exploiting natural resources.

• Designed according to the exposition, adopting different ratios of

transparent and opaque surfaces

• Maximization of the solar gains by means of windows on the southern

walls, and thermal insulation using thick masonry walls on the northern
side.

• Such design construction allowed to satisfy the requirement of basic

thermal protection, but not optimal.

Perino, M., & Serra, V. (2015). Switching from static to adaptable and dynamic building
envelopes: A paradigm shift for the energy efficiency in buildings. Journal of Facade Design and
Engineering, 3(2), 143-163. doi:10.3233/fde-150039
 ENVELOPES
The effect of technological development in materials.
• Allowed disembody of the surfaces of the building envelope and to
split the function of structural resistance from others like thermal,
protective, aesthetic.

• Lighter facades by introducing transparent elements, whose

extension grew more and more to such an extent of replacing (in
certain cases) almost completely the opaque surface.

• An era of technology inspired by cultural movement of modernism

started, supported by availability of reliable and relatively efficient
energy conversion systems.

• Combination of all these favorable factors led to the development of

projects where the local climatic conditions were no longer taken in
account in a proper way.

• Focus and attention shifted mainly on formal and aesthetic issues,

rather than on energy implications and comfort conditions.

Perino, M., & Serra, V. (2015). Switching from static to adaptable and dynamic building
envelopes: A paradigm shift for the energy efficiency in buildings. Journal of Facade Design and
Engineering, 3(2), 143-163. doi:10.3233/fde-150039
 ENVELOPES
Problem
• Large glazed surfaces, having size excessive size with respect to the
need for day lighting.

• Consequence:

• The poor performance of the facades are counter balanced by the

installation of oversized H.V.A.C systems took place.

• Unacceptable high energy consumption and disappointing indoor

environmental quality.

• Such facade configuration gives origin to significant transmission

heat losses during the winter and to huge solar heat gains in the
summer period.

• Not capable of solving the local discomfort problems in a satisfactory way

(draft risk, noise, radiant symmetry).

• Increasing cost of the energy and dissatisfaction of occupants,

represented the need towards the next step of evolution.
 PARADIGM SHIFT
“It is a scientific result that is universally recognized and that, for a period of
time, provides a model and solution for a given scientific community. Therefore
the shift is a radical change in the basic assumptions that has ruled a certain
research and/or technological environment for a long time to a newer one”

•This definition fits in the current framework of the building envelopes (Shift from static to Adaptive).

•Limitations of present static facades and emerging energy requirements are demanding for it.
 ADAPTIVE ENVELOPES
•Change its function, features or behavior over time in response to transient performance requirements
with the aim of improving the overall building performance.

Advantages
The adaptation of envelopes provides opportunities for significant reduction in building energy use while
preserving the thermal and visual comfort of the occupants.

Gardens by the Bay Punumbra kinetic louvers by Tyler short

 CONCEPT
•Buildings are designed to allow parts of the envelope to move
in order to respond to the environmental conditions.

•Widely used building element to form a kinetic facade is the

exterior shading device.

•These devices are used on buildings, with designated control the Esplanade Singapore

strategies to control the solar radiation entering through the

building facade.

Kiefer Technic Showroom by Ernst Giselbrecht + Partners

 APPROACH
• Fundamental importance is to devise strategies for the building
stock to achieve the objective in terms of energy efficiency and
climate change.

• Taking into account that an envelope (facade) is the main parameter

that influences the energy performances of building.

• Facade elements need to be designed to promote the building, the

necessary flexibility needed in terms of energy flow and thermal
comfort. Sliding House by DRMM, Suffolk, UK

Potential benefits
• Offers a significant opportunity for solar energy exploitation

• Limitations of Existing static facades could be overcome

Parameters
• Solar radiation, Luminance, Temperature, Thermal demand, Glare
indices
SDU Campus Kolding Building by Henning Larsen, Denmark
 NEED
• Building facades are responsible for more than 40% of heat loss in winter and for overheating in summer

•Thus forcing the employment of air conditioning systems necessary to guarantee an appropriate internal
comfort

• The reason the building sector records the highest amount of energy consumption, even greater than
industry and transport.

Al Bahr Towers by Aedas architects, Abu Dhabi

 NEED
•Recent studies show that in developed countries people
spend an average of 90% of their time indoor.

•This trend reflects the large number of requirements for the

indoor environment, where buildings assume a key role in
ensuring the welfare of the people.

•Adaptive building envelopes can provide improvements in the

building energy efficiency and economics, through their
capability to change their behavior in real time according to
Apple Store by Foster + Partners, Dubai
indoor/outdoor parameters, by means of materials,
components and systems.
 WHY ADAPTIVE
Shield, Barrier, Separation to Interface, Host location, Management.
• Exploit the opportunities offered by the local climate and by natural resources instead of working against them.

• Switch from an attitude of denial to a positive approach

• Should be no more perceived as a 'problem', 'difficulty', but should be considered as an 'opportunity', 'a
potentiality'.

•Hence the building envelope offers a huge interface that can be effectively used to manage the mass and
the energy balances of the built environment and to host technologies for the exploitation of renewable
sources.

Q1 headquarters by
Giselbrecht+Partners, Germany

Perino, M., & Serra, V. (2015). Switching from static to adaptable and dynamic building
envelopes: A paradigm shift for the energy efficiency in buildings. Journal of Facade Design and
Engineering, 3(2), 143-163. doi:10.3233/fde-150039
 WHY ADAPTIVE
Invariable, Static, Generic to Dynamic, Adaptive, Responsive,
Customized
• Elements of a building that do not change their structure and
aspect, and whose features, properties, functions and behavior are
immutable, starts to be limitative and unsatisfactory.

• The innovation of the building envelope from the concept of

insulation to that of adaptability appears more promising.

• The best facade is not necessarily the one that shows the high air
tightness, thermal insulation and the one that maximizes the solar
heat gains.

• Depending on the season, working conditions and user preferences One Ocean Pavilion by Soma, South Korea

the building envelope cold be asked to allow a higher/lower heat

flux to take place, to store/release the energy, or to tune the
ventilation airflow rate or, finally to adjust its transparency.

Perino, M., & Serra, V. (2015). Switching from static to adaptable and dynamic building
envelopes: A paradigm shift for the energy efficiency in buildings. Journal of Facade Design and
Engineering, 3(2), 143-163. doi:10.3233/fde-150039
 WHY ADAPTIVE
Single function, Single behavior to Multifunctional and
integration
• Majority of building envelope technologies are made of passive
resistive elements.

• A significant improvement of the energy efficiency can be achieved

by conceiving "active' components, where such multifunctional
components typically host, generation/conversion systems (on-
site energy exploitation), play a role in the ventilation (being
used as air heat exchanges, ventilation outlet/inlets, ducts etc.)
and combined with the lighting strategies.

• To be efficiently exploited, these dynamic components must not be Sharifi-Ha House by nextoffice, Tehran
integrated just adopting a mere 'additive principle'(fixing a new
component on a traditional facade).

Perino, M., & Serra, V. (2015). Switching from static to adaptable and dynamic building
envelopes: A paradigm shift for the energy efficiency in buildings. Journal of Facade Design and
Engineering, 3(2), 143-163. doi:10.3233/fde-150039
 METHODOLOGY

• To study and understand the different typology, classification and design strategy
involved in kinetic architecture.

•Understanding the techniques used in existing buildings through case studies.

•Analyze and compare the results obtained from case studies.

•Study the requirements and needs to develop such envelopes and skins.

•Proposing a new approach. (Identify location on buildings to improve the efficiency

of the system)

RESEARCH AREA
•Building kinetics

•Building envelopes