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Actively controlled building facade technologies provide an intriguing method for building energy and comfort management as well as on-site electricity generation. Here, a novel concept is proposed which allows for energy and comfort management on a multi-building level by making use of sunlight redirection via adaptive reflective panels mounted on a building facade. Utilizing such a system to share solar radiation between building surfaces will improve utilization of the solar resource in urban settings, contributing to a reduction in waste energy and subsequently mitigating the urban heat island effect. The authors term this technology a reflective adaptive solar facade. A framework is presented that models and assesses the performance of such a system, consisting of a Resistance-Capacitance building energy model coupled to a Monte Carlo ray tracing simulation. This framework is then utilized to determine the contribution of such a system to building energy savings. The simulation framework is applied to cases of different receiver designs including concentrating photovoltaic receivers and indirect heating. The facade's novel abilities to redistribute sunlight between buildings open new pathways for intelligent urban design via efficient distribution of solar energy resources.

The design of complex architectural components such as kinetic architectural elements poses a challenge due to the multiple technological branches involved. This paper presents a performative design environment that combines the branches of structural and energy engineering, control, industrial design, and architecture. The methodology is applied in the context of the Adaptive Solar Facade, a kinetic photovoltaic shading system for the HiLo building in Duebendorf, Switzerland. The authors describe how the environment enables the user to design the form of the facade, get feedback on its structural strength, analyse the energetic performance of the interior space, conduct a daylighting analysis, render images, and produce fabrication plans for a rapid design process. With the parametric design environment, project meetings transform from information exchanges to design sessions where all stakeholders can collaboratively influence the design and see immediate results. What would normally take a month, was condensed to just a few hours. Ultimately, this paper extends the field of performative design by presenting a practical example where a system as complex as a kinetic photovoltaic envelope can be designed, prototyped, and fabricated by a small team of four designers.

The utilisation of a dynamic photovoltaic system for adaptive shading can improve building energy performance by controlling solar heat gains and natural lighting, while simultaneously generating electricity on site. This paper firstly presents an integrated simulation framework to couple photovoltaic electricity generation to building energy savings through adaptive shading. A high-resolution radiance and photovoltaic model calculates the photovoltaic electricity yield while taking into account partial shading between modules. The remaining solar irradiation that penetrates the window is used in a resistance-capacitance building thermal model. A simulation of all possible dynamic configurations is conducted for each hourly time step, of which the most energy efficient configuration is chosen. We then utilise this framework to determine the optimal orientation of the photovoltaic panels to maximise the electricity generation while minimising the building’s heating, lighting and cooling demand. An existing adaptive photovoltaic facade was used as a case study for evaluation. Our results report a 20–80% net energy saving compared to an equivalent static photovoltaic shading system depending on the efficiency of the heating and cooling system. In some cases the Adaptive Solar Facade can almost compensate for the entire energy demand of the office space behind it. The control of photovoltaic production on the facade, simultaneously with the building energy demand, opens up new methods of building management as the facade can control both the production and consumption of electricity.

This paper presents research on lightweight construction and smart, integrated and adaptive building systems. The research is focused on addressing challenges related to the building industry at large, including most prominently the improvement of energy efficiency, onsite power generation, and the reduction of the quantity of materials required to build. We introduce four innovations in context of the design of an experimental building (NEST HiLo): a lightweight, unreinforced funicular floor system; a flexibly formed, concrete shell sandwich roof; a soft actuated, adaptive solar facade and an automated, occupant-centred control system. We demonstrate novel structural engineering approaches to compression-only concrete elements and shell design using multi-criteria shape optimisation. We explore a building facade concept, which employs robotic actuators for solar shading and on-site generation. In addition, the operational phase of the building will be used as a living laboratory where occupants' locations and needs for comfort are detected and used for the control of the energy innovations. The research provides insight into design topics that will become increasingly relevant for the evolution of improved lifecycle energy buildings.

The Adaptive Solar Facade (ASF) is a modular, highly integrated dynamic building facade.The energetic behavior as well as the architectural expression of the facade can be controlled with high spatio-temporal resolution through individually addressable modules. We present the general design process, the current mechanical design, and simulation results on photovoltaic power production and building energy consumption. We introduce the controller concept and show results on solar tracking as well as user interaction. Lastly, we present our current and planned prototypes., Frontiers of Architectural Research, 5 (2), ISSN:2095-2635, ISSN:2095-2643

We present an expansion of the psychrometric chart for thermal comfort analysis using a new contour shading method that demonstrates a wider range of potential comfort conditions through the incorporation of additional comfort parameters. These extra dimensions include mean radiant temperature, air movement, metabolic rate, skin wettedness and the transitional behavior of occupants. The representations allow us to think outside the thermal comfort box with the use of innovative thermal design and comfort feedback for occupants. Building on the Olgyay bioclimatic chart, allowing architects to “Design with Climate”, the new chart vizualizes a wide range of conditions that illustrate a physical basis for expanding comfort zones. It uses basic spatially invariant metrics employed in adaptive and other comfort models to allow "design with comfort" across all thermal comfort variables. The development of these methods has resulted in an open-source repository and web app available for designers and researchers to reproduce the charts and color-shading for their own projects.

An adaptive solar facade can improve building energy performance by controlling solar heat gains and natural lighting, while simultaneously generating electricity on site. The adaptive control of the solar facade is determined through an optimisation algorithm that minimises the net energy demand. In this paper, we first evaluate the sensitivity of the adaptive solar facade to the thermal performance of the building envelope for a south facing room in Zurich. We then evaluate the performance of an adaptive solar facade on 11 building use types spanning six construction periods. In addition, we compare the performance of an adaptive system against an equivalent static photovoltaic system, and a facade with no shading system. Our results show that the adaptive solar facade performs best in buildings that have a high cooling demand and low heating demand. This is because the optimum configurations for cooling minimisation generate the maximum photovoltaic electricity. As a result, we notice a higher energy saving potential in newer buildings with low envelope thermal transmittance (U-value or infiltration). However, in buildings with a very high cooling demand, and no heating demand, there is only a small improvement in performance compared to an equivalent static system. An adaptive solar facade is therefore an optimum solution when there are both heating demands, and cooling demands present. Modern offices, retail stores, food stores, and schools have this property and perform well with an adaptive solar facade compared to an equivalent static system, and a facade with no shading., Energy Procedia, 122, ISSN:1876-6102, CISBAT 2017 International Conference Future Buildings & Districts – Energy Efficiency from Nano to Urban Scale