An Adaptive Building Skin Concept Resulting from a New Bioinspiration Process: Design, Prototyping, and Characterization

Tessa Hubert, Antoine Dugué, Tingting Vogt Wu, Fabienne Aujard and Denis Bruneau
Additional contact information
Tessa Hubert: NOBATEK/INEF4, National Institute for the Energy Transition in the Construction Sector, 64600 Anglet, France
Antoine Dugué: NOBATEK/INEF4, National Institute for the Energy Transition in the Construction Sector, 64600 Anglet, France
Tingting Vogt Wu: Institute of Mechanical Engineering (I2M), UMR CNRS 5295, Université de Bordeaux, 33400 Talence, France
Fabienne Aujard: MECADEV UMR CNRS 7179—National Museum of Natural History, 91800 Brunoy, France
Denis Bruneau: Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture et Paysage de Bordeaux, 33405 Talence, France

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 3, 1-19

Abstract: Building envelopes can manage light, heat gains or losses, and ventilation and, as such, play a key role in the overall building performance. Research has been focusing on increasing their efficiency by proposing dynamic and adaptive systems, meaning that they evolve to best meet the internal and external varying conditions. Living organisms are relevant examples of adaptability as they have evolved, facing extreme conditions while maintaining stable internal conditions for survival. From a framework based on the inspiration of living envelopes such as animal constructions or biological skins, the concept of an adaptive envelope inspired by the Morpho butterfly was proposed. The system can manage heat, air, and light transfers going through the building and includes adaptive elements with absorption coefficients varying with temperature. This paper presents the developed framework that led to the final concept as well as the concept implementation and assessment. A prototype for heat and light management was built and integrated into a test bench. Measurements were performed to provide a first assessment of the system. In parallel, geometrical parametric models were created to compare multiple configurations in regards to indicators such as air, light, or heat transfers. One of the models provided light projections on the system that were compared with measurements and validated as suitable inputs in grey-box models for the system characterization.

Keywords: bioinspiration; adaptive skin; product design; parametric; regulation factors; biological models (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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