Hybrid environmental-media facades

There is significant potential for responsive sun screening systems to improve the energy performance of large scale public and commercial buildings. However there has been minimal uptake, primarily due to the capital and maintenance costs. We propose that these costs can be offset by providing added value in three ways. (1) Development of a finer grained control interface for occupants to enhance individual comfort, which has been shown to improve worker productivity. (2) With a high granularity of panels and a control system that enables individual movement of each panel, the system can be re-purposed as a low resolution media screen to foster social interactions in urban settings. (3) Enabling a new movement-aesthetic for architecture of indeterminate states that coalesce and shift during the daily and seasonal cycles, thus enlivening the public face of architecture. To evaluate the feasibility of such hybrid responsive facades we are developing physical prototypes calibrated to real time simulation and control software. A initial proof-of-concept design explores the optimal configuration and geometry of the kinetic panels to enable the granularity required for a range of graphic and textural information, along with development of the actuator. We document progress to date on this research into hybrid environmental-media façades.