AR8209

Advanced Digital Design Jeffrey Cheung

Responsive Facade: Nuit Blanche Proposal
Introduction
Being in a building with too much sunlight or glare and having
no power in controlling it can be troublesome and often cause
discomfort. In many facades of buildings, there is a lack of a
responsive system in which it can respond based on varying
ambient conditions. There is a need to incorporate more ways
to have responsive systems as facades to interact and respond
based on the external environment. For this Nuit Blanche
Proposal, the focus will be on creating a responsive facade
system which will be a prototypical design which will have
the capability to be applied to building facades everywhere.
This proposal begins with case studies, an analysis of text,
an outline of the problems, and fnally, the design concept.
Case Studies
When looking through certain case studies, it was important
to look at several types of kinetic facades. As kinetic is
defned as, of, relating to, or resulting from motion, the goal
was to not only have a facade which moves for the sake of
looking interesting. Having a dynamic facade, pertaining to
or characterized by energy or effective action is closer to
the desired result from the proposal. The best type of kinetic
facade is one that is responsive, something that responds
readily and sympathetically to appeal efforts or infuences.
The frst case study to the top right is the Dynamic Facade by
Giselbrecht + Partner ZT GmbH constructed in Austria by 2007.
The second case study in the middle is the Q1 Headquarters
Building by JSWD Architekten constructed in Germany by
2010. The last case study is done on the Arab World Institute
by Jean Nouvel which was constructed in France by 1987
which is an early case of facade with moving elements.
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Case Study Technologies
Dynamic Facade
Giselbrecht + Partner ZT GmbH
Q1 Headquarters Building
JSWD Architekten
Arab World Institute
Jean Nouvel
This is the new offce building of the Austrian metal company
Kiefer technic. What is special about this is that it has a
dynamic faade system of electrically driven folding
elements. This faade changes continuously each day,
each hour showing a new face but can also adapt to
the individual needs. Within this building, the occupants
can control any or all of the 112 metal tiles that cover
the exterior of the showroom by means of 56 engines.
The new, highly effcient sun protection system has a key
role in the overall appearance of Q1. The circa 400,000
stainless steel lamellas are oriented in response to the
location of the sun and enable light redirection without
blocking the view. The facade is shaded by 3,150 kinetic
feathers that open and close based on user input and
sensor data. It can vary from 0 to 90 degrees of openness to
provide as little or as much shading from the sun as possible.
This kinetic facade for the Arab World Institute was
designed as a facade which responds to changing
environments. To achieve this, the south facade of the
building consists of high-tech photosensitive mechanical
devices which control the light levels and transparency.
It interprets traditional wooden Arab latticework screens
into a glass and steel construction with 30,000 light-sensitive
diaphragms on 1600 elements, which operate like a lens of
a camera. The changes to the irises are revealed internally
far more than what can be observed from the exterior.
Analysis
Ubiquitous computing evangelists herald a coming age of urban infrastructure capable of sensing and responding
to the events and activities transpiring within the city (Shepard, 2011). With this coming age, we need to create
new ways to transpire towards the creation of a more responsive city which caters towards the needs of the public
within urban settings. This future vision is capable of refexively monitoring the environmental aspects as well as the
possible behaviors which can result through it. Essentially what the proposal hopes to encompass is a responsive
faade system which can react upon different conditions, whether environmental or not to provide better situations.
On a building, the envelope is the most critical element which provides shelter towards the building occupants. Without it,
people will be exposed to the elements which can create high levels of discomfort as well as distractions. There are three main
categories for the functions of a building envelope, the support which resists and transfers mechanical loads, the control which
affects the fow of matter and energy of all types, and the fnish which is catered to meet human desires on the interior as well
as the exterior. With todays technology, there is no doubt that very high effcient systems are capable of being built to resist as
much thermal transfer as possible, but it lacks a different aspect relating to some conditions which cant be controlled all the time.
As the typical envelope system is merely a passive system within a building, there are ways that the envelopes of buildings
could go beyond their passive attributes and begin to engage themselves in problem solving. A building envelope might
plan an active role in reducing a buildings energy consumption by altering its own shading properties and triggering the
heating and cooling system based on information about temperature and sunlight (Jamin, 2011). With this, the occupants
will require less action to alter their own environment for work or leisure and start to focus more with fewer interruptions.
The act of an envelope problem solving will create a linear system as it will receive input and simply produce some sort
of predictable output. The linear system creates a cause and effect relationship which makes them more reactive than
interactive. Similar to this, there is a different type of system which can be useful in being reactive to different settings. This
other type of system are learning systems that are able to evaluate their goals and change them in order to follow new ones.
This is the realm of sentient systems that can learn from their context and change their actions accordingly (Khan, 2011).
Problem:
Technology today allows for people to have control over
many different aspects and the goal is to incorporate
those methods into the built form. To fnd a way for a
building to deal with glare and direct sunlight which can
cause overheating is a problem in many types of buildings.
The task is to fnd a way to automatically resolve these
issues without compromising comfort of the occupants as
well as to decrease the cooling and lighting load within.
Objective:
The objective is to allow the occupants to work or experience a
space with an optimized internal climate without overheating
from solar gain while minimizing air conditioning use. To
fnd a method or system which can be used to moderate
and allow users to personalize the spaces they occupy.
Proposal
Output:
The output will be a design feature which responds from the
input and gets applied to the faade to moderate solar heat
and lighting gains. The faade will essentially modify itself
based on the input from light sensors within the interior and
get transformed into responsive data which can be usable.
Input:
Solar heat and lighting as well as the occupants input on
an individual basis. The way the solar heat or lighting will
be measured will be through photoconductive cells. The
generation of a photoelectric current or the production
of a change in the voltage across a photoconductive cell
by such a current is used to detect radiation. Solar trackers
will also be used, but instead of orienting photovoltaic
panels, they will be orienting the facade towards the sun.
Interior condition that is too bright with no shading Tracking system used for photovoltaics
Proposal
Output
Input
Light sensors
Movement
Grasshopper
Arduino
Facade Response
Sun light
User Input
Process
Processes:
Rhinoceros, Grasshopper, Arduinos
The main processes which will be involved in the design and functionality of
the proposed system will be arduino, while the design of the faade will be
created with rhinoceros as well as grasshopper. Essentially what Rhinoceros
is, is a non-uniform rational basis spline (NURBS) based 3-D modeling software
which specializes in free-form modeling. Its popularity is based on its diverse
multidisciplinary functions and is more popular in architectural designs now due to
the plug-in called grasshopper which aids in computational design. The purpose
of using rhinoceros is to build the overall design of the responsive faade system.
The grasshopper program is a generative modeling plug-in for the rhinoceros
program which works with a visual based programming language. Programs are
created from components and the outputs to the components are connected to
the input of subsequent components. It is mainly used to build generative algorithms
which can create 3-D geometry based on several types of input. The purpose of
using grasshopper is to utilize the input from sensors which are the variables which
can infuence the design of the faade to respond based on the algorithms.
The arduino is an open-source electronic prototyping platform which is based
on fexible hardware as well as software. What it is specifcally useful at is sensing
the environment through receiving input from a variety of sensors which can then
affect its surrounding through its actuators. The programming aspect is done with
the arduino programming language and the development environment. As the
arduino unit can be stand-alone or combined with software running on computers it
will be useful in the actualization of the responsive faade system. The sensors used
with the arduino unit will be able to convert the data into usable metrics towards
grasshopper, which with new input, will change its design through the algorithms.
Design Concept
For the overall design concept, it is important to ensure that the building is shaded from the sun for as many hours as possible
throughout the day. As the sun conditions are the highest during every season on the south faade, it is important the
incorporate the responsive faade system mainly on the southern face.
The main responsive component about the faade is a sun-shading layer which is on the exterior in front of a curtain wall. The
movable component responds to the current environmental aspects and controls the amount of solar gain that can enter
into the building during times of direct solar radiation while also allowing daylight to enter. There will be light sensors a long with
thermostats located on the interior which will collect data based on the lack or excess amount in that location. With those
numbers, the faade will be able to respond to open up to let in more daylight, or close off to reduce too much solar heat.
The sun-shading elements will be controlled by motors which can rotate the exterior elements to any degree necessary.
Another feature that is implemented is a solar tracking technology, which will allow the shades to move with the location of
the sun to provide better shading for its occupants. As the movement of the responsive faade will be continuous throughout
the morning until early evening, the shading elements will be made of light metals like aluminum and titanium to reduce the
load on the motors. There will be a walkway between the faade and responsive element which will provide for maintenance
areas.
Horizontal Louvers
Sun-shading system
Sun-shading system showing how it can change its variation
Curtain wall
Vertically mounted system with integrated wiring and motors
Design Concept
Horizontal Louvers
Light Sensor Locations
Drop Ceiling
Sun-shading system
Sun-shading system showing how it can change its variation
Curtain wall
Solar gains
Light sensors
Solar tracker
Arduino
Rhinoceros
Grasshopper
Motors
Facade Facade movement
Completely open responsive facade
Completely closed responsive facade
Conclusion
In conclusion, through researching and investigating into facades which have aspects of movement, it is inevitable that
future envelope systems will continue to develop with new forms of responsiveness. As new technologies continue to emerge,
new methods in creating responsive faades will continue to develop. The methods in which the input is received as well as
the processing units will continue to change and eventually have less faws and errors which can prevent the faade from
functioning.
The facade responding to user input
References
Colt USA - Introduction to Solar Shading. Colt Solar Shading Systems & Natural Ventilation. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Apr. 2013.
<http://www.shadinglouvres.com/solar-shading-basics/>.
Dynamic facade (Kiefer technic showroom) | Ernst Giselbrecht + Partner | Project. Architonic | architecture and design.
N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Apr. 2013. <http://www.architonic.com/aisht/dynamic-facade-kiefer-technic-showroom-ernst-giselbrecht-
partner/5100449>.
Faades Confdential: ThyssenKrupp Quarter facades: a giants gentle skin. Faades Confdential. N.p., n.d. Web. 6
Apr. 2013. <http://facadesconfdential.blogspot.ca/2010/12/thyssenkrupp-quarter-facades-giants.html>.
Jamin, David., Yang, Soo-In., Jeremijenko, Natalie. New Interaction for Environmental Governance Amphibious Architec-
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League of New York ;, 2011. Print.
Khan, Omar. Interaction Anxieties from Sentient city: ubiquitous computing, architecture, and the future of urban space.
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Kinetic Facades | Responsive Skins. Responsive Skins | An exploration of Paratonic Surfaces in Architecture. N.p., n.d.
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Light Sensor including Photocell and LDR Sensor. Basic Electronics Tutorials and Revision. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Apr. 2013.
<http://www.electronics-tutorials.ws/io/io_4.html>.
Photoconductive Cell defnition of Photoconductive Cell in the Free Online Encyclopedia.. Encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web.
3 Apr. 2013. <http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/photoconductive+cell>.
Poucke, Van. Arab World Institute by Jean Nouvel KineticArchitecture.Net. KineticArchitecture.Net. N.p., n.d. Web. 2
Apr. 2013. <http://blog.kineticarchitecture.net/2011/01/arab-world-institute/>.
Shepard, Mark. Sentient city: ubiquitous computing, architecture, and the future of urban space. New York City: Architec-
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