Self climatizing wall

The Concept: Sustainable Renaissance, learning from our past

Natural systems are always evolving and adapting to their environment, but buildings are static objects in a dynamic world. Sustainable architecture must interact with the natural environment and it is vital for this interaction to promote sustainable and passive design opportunities. Technology should reinforce passive strategies instead of overcoming natural occurrences. This was the case for structures built by indigenous people and our ancestors. Just as tepees use materials, that respond to the environment, like thatch, allowing the interior space to breathe and ventilate in the dry heat and swelling to seal the space in the rain, the self climatizing wall responds the temperature and to our sun. The self climatizing wall was inspired by a passive trombe wall system and accented by technology to create interactive architecture. More and more architecture needs to be dynamic and draw inspiration from strategies forgotten with the advent of mechanical systems.

The Design: Rooted in passive principles, accented by technology

This building has been designed to meet the needs of the passive office program while maximizing its ability to adapt to its local environment. This is the essence of intelligent design: smarter, not wasteful. Through this process we have been able to conserve resources and reduce the thickness of the walls. The building has a large southern exposure which allows the Self Climatizing Wall Panels complete ability to regulate the buildings temperature.

By allowing our south wall to change from 62% solar absorbent to almost 100% Solar reflective we can effectively control heat infiltration. In the winter the electro-Chromic Glass covering the wall allows the concrete blocks in the Wall to absorb approximately 6,300 Btu/m2 per day on our site. While in the summer the wall reflects approximately 20,000 Btu/m2 per day. This Modular self powered pre-cast system allows the HVAC systems to be downsized reducing the energy consumption of the building.