Adaptive membrane envelope

Adaptive membrane envelope: For office buildings in temperate climates

Stavrou, I.

Knaack, U. (mentor)
Turrin, M. (mentor)

Architecture and The Built Environment

Urbanism

Urbanism and Building Sciences

2016-06-30

The Adaptive membrane envelope subject originates from the upcoming need for more lightweight structures in the building sector. Since high amounts of energy are wasted for construction and erection of buildings, the idea for lightness becomes essential especially in the case of office buildings, the glass facades of which can weight thousands of tonnes. On the other hand despite the need for glass facades in office buildings in order to perform working tasks more effeciently and create a healthy indoor environment, there is also need for solar control. The reason for this is that even though daylight is essential for the users it can create problems when it occurs either in large quantities or in bad quality, causing discomfort to the users. Therefore, in order to achieve efficient solar control and consequently acceptable visual comfort levels in a working space, the users need a facade system that can be transparent and protective at the same time. A pssible solution to that problem could be an adaptive envelope that can respond to both needs at the same time, giving the possibility to the users to choose the desired level of transparency that they need at different points in time. Combining the two problematics mentioned before we end up to the subject of the current Master thesis, which tries to provide a solution for an adaptive envelope for office buildings using really lightweight materials and more specifically membranes that are efficient for buildings. The proposed solution that is the outcome of this research includes an adaptive mebrane envelope system, using innovative materials and techniques, with an experimental character. Therefore the design of that envelope includes Fibre reinforced Polymers as structural elements, along with membrane cushions in the form of modular components, finally achieving the desired solar control with the incorporation of techniques and materials, used in the field of Soft robotics, a field that provides really innovative solutions in adaptive mechanisms. Based on that solutions, the adaptivity in our case is provided by pneumatic silicone rubber modules that can take various different positions, providing the indoor space with various degrees of shading, just by adjusting the internal pressure in their chambers. However, since that field is currently emerging, a lot of research was needed regarding the materials and the way they perform, as well as the design of pneumatic systems. In order to achieve the desired effect various physical models were fabricated, until the final version that performs according to the basic idea. However there is still space for a lot of improvement and many ideas that could be implemented to increase the value of the system, bringing it to a whole different level of performance, since the opportunities in that field are currently blossoming.

adaptivtivity
membranes
building envelope
solar control
soft robots

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:d502d779-7bbf-4688-81f2-a1a86b8d959e

Student theses

master thesis

(c) 2016 Stavrou, I.