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The aim of this research is to study the possibilities of adaptation in a façade in order to be able to design an adaptive façade for the future faculty of Architecture at TU Delft. In general, an adaptive façade has the ability to change, responding to changing internal and/or external climatic conditions influencing room comfort. It was evident from the beginning of the research that an adaptive façade can have a positive effect on a building’s energy consumption and comfort. The idea that an adaptive façade can contribute to a flexible building and usage of space as well, is quite new; it assumes that this type of façade is necessary to fulfill the different requirements per room type placed on the internal climate. To verify this, three room typologies – a design studio, an office and a meeting room – have been researched on their user and climate requirements. An understanding of the difference in use of both the room and its façade (for instance practicability of the façade), and the related comfort requirements per room typology is necessary to comprehend the effects on the façade. The study on comfort shows that light and ventilation need to be adaptive because every room type has different comfort requirements. The usable floor area per person is different per room type and the reverberation time varies as well, but this difference is solved cleverly by using materials with different absorption qualities in the room itself. A difference in temperature, light, ventilation and sound all have influence on the design of the façade and the internal climate. The relevant internal factors influencing room comfort are people, electrical devices and lighting. Their effect on the internal climate differs per room typology since the amount of people and the surface area vary. The external conditions – solar radiation, outside air temperature, humidity, precipitation and wind – are dependent on location and orientation and cannot be influenced by design; however, an adaptable façade must make best use of these conditions. The amount of adaptation needed in a façade is analyzed in the adaptivity analysis. The analysis takes into account the different functions, day and night differences, the seasons and the façade’s orientation. Different profiles have been defined to study the effects of the different adaptive functions in relation to each other. Furthermore, different levels of adaptivity have been quantified to research what function needs what amount of adaptation, the levels being: minute-to-minute, day and night, season and years. These levels are necessary to limit down the choice for certain components even more. To be able to actually design a façade with adaptive components, one needs to know what is there and what is not. An overview has been made for façade components that can adapt manually, mechanically and on a material level – so-called ‘smart’ materials. Of course, this overview is not complete and probably never will be, but within the timeframe of this research, it does tell what the potential of the component is and its advantages and disadvantages. The components have been organized per function into a diagram. In combination with the defined profiles for designers it’s a useful tool to create new façade concepts. Three different concepts have been worked out with the help of the profiles and the diagram with adaptive components. These adaptive concepts show the possibilities, effects and restraints for the future façade with adaptive components. The last chapter shows the result for an adaptive façade design as a result of the graduation assignment in both architecture and building technology. In conclusion, adaptivity in a façade is dependent on a lot of different factors: the user profile and practicability of the façade; its effectiveness in time, meaning the different levels of adaptivity; its climate profile; its costs and architectural choices. It is also a direct outcome of what components are available at the time of making the concept and design. The future façade will potentially take in more and more functionality, with a better integration of building services and integration with a building’s structure.

The goal of the project was to develop a facade system as an alternative system for the metal glass facade. In order to make valid decisisions the methodology of product development has been used. The result is a service integrated facade called the Smart Post facade.

“How can Dutch ‘post-war’ (1950-1972) office buildings be refurbished externally using a unitized second skin façade system in a future-directed building physical and energy efficient way, that is aesthetically innovative and applicable to a wider range of similar office buildings?” “How can the original architectural character of the building be merged with new façade features in a refurbishment project that has the intention to improve the building physics and to upgrade the aesthetic appeal of the building.”

Different kinds of typical and advanced façade (active wall®, interactive wall®, curtain wall, closed cavity façade®, triple glazing…) are more and more used in UK and other European countries, some of them are suitable for local climate with good energy and comfort performance. In order to predict their performance in other climate we need to do some computer simulation. Some simulation work has already been done for the climate in Singapore. The same work need to be done for Chinese façade systems. In 2008, Permasteelisa developed Capsol Excellent in corporation with Physibel for the assessment of energy and comfort performance of facades and their impact on whole buildings energy performance. The objective of Capsol Excellent is to provide a software tool using the MS Excel user interface for simulating a room equipped with a ventilated double skin façade, in an easier and more efficient process than Capsol without compromising any accuracy results. A comparison study is already done for UK climates and according to UK regulations. China wants to adopt the UK energy regulations and therefore a similar comparative study needs to be done for different climate zones in China taking into account the current Chinese regulations.

The world today is struggling with several problems concerning the environment to which the building industry is contributing especially by pollution and resource depletion. This research calls for optimizing the way facades are constructed and materialized, in order to limit these problems. For this optimization to be accepted there has to be a convincing reason to replace conservative means. This thesis offers insight in the facade’s contribution, obtained by a literature study and an impact assessment that can be seen as the main reason. The base of a sustainable façade design is the honest intention to do so and stick with it. The next step is to adopt a holistic perspective that involves all disciplines in a continuous discussion throughout the design phase and during the use phase when upgrades or maintenance is needed. The design should have an adaptable layout that enables these upgrades serving state-of-the-art technique and user requirements. Moreover the basic construction is best kept general in order to prolong the façade’s life span. Finally the façade’s environmental impact is minimized by closing material loops and choosing renewable resources. The high performance of state-of-the-art facades is partly dependent on their materialization. Aluminium, plastics and insulation glass are examples of this materialization that at the same time has a high environmental impact. The façade’s components that relatively have the highest environmental impact include the load bearing construction and the transparent area. These materials and components should therefore be designed with extra care in order to achieve an excepted environmental impact without compromising in performance.

Rapid Manufacturing (RM) is a relatively new discipline which offers great potential for designers in every industry. When further developed, this new method of manufacturing, which eliminates tooling and uses additive material processing for fabrication, could have major impact on the way we design, manufacture and sell new products. In several industries, RM is already being developed to contribute to an improvement in technology and for the building industry, it could also be worthwhile to explore the possibilities in the field of façade design. The technical performance within the façade industry could potentially be brought to a higher level by implementing the positive properties that the technique can provide. A façade has to integrate a lot of functions for it has to deal with thermal, visual, hygienic and acoustic comfort, provide safety and meet the requirements for aesthetics as well. Looking into further depth to the visual comfort of a façade, shading devices play an important role, because they are dealing with the entering of heat and light in the room. The production method determines the appearance and the properties for the detailing of a façade. When RM is used as a production technique, the design will become different than when contemporary production techniques are used. Geometric freedom, material properties and the fact that the design is independent on production eliminates a lot of boundary conditions for the design process. There will be intermediate steps between the façade produced with current processes, and the fully rapid manufactured facade. During the introduction of the technique, printing shall first be introduced to produce only parts of the façade in a hybrid or a modular approach, applied in the area where the highest profit can be reached, and gradually be scaled up to building size.

Shorted thesis on testing a new kind of double skin facade for a hot desert climate. The facade is tested on the performance, in a real scale test setup. This thesis is a shorted version because of confidentiality of the contents.

Existing building stock, represented by major share of outdated structures account for a large portion of today’s primary energy consumption for their maintenance and running. These structures failing to comply with today’s norms and standards have to be refurbished to meet modern demand for their better and efficient usage. This research focuses on a specific aspect of facade refurbishment of existing high rise office buildings in United Kingdom, Netherlands and Germany, with specific focus on London. Worked in tie up with PERMASTEELISA Group, an architectural component manufacturer, this thesis focuses on the integration of their unitized prefabricated facade solutions with integrated solar thermal collector systems, as successful refurbishment strategy for identified high rise office facades. Derived from two distinct sources; the research work from Re-Face by Dr.-Ing. Thiemo Ebbert and EU backed Cost effective project, this thesis compiles a set of most prevalent office facades, thereby hoping to identify possible architectural freedoms involved in the refurbishment process.

Urban culture centre COGO Rotterdam is located in the urban block of the monumental ABN-Amro bank building surrounded by Coolsingel and Lijnbaan streets. The building contains three functions: design workshop, educational hub and gastronomy art centre. The main concept of the project derives from the criticism of Rotterdam architectonic forms and proportion and is translated into design by elements that are dedicated to serve the public user. All architectural elements are related to each other by synergetic links that relate the building system to the urban structure of the city.

A multi layered facade system based on moving patterns to regulate privacy, sight and sun shading and a rotation mechanism that allows direct and indirect ventilation with passive pre heating of the air intake. The system is developed specially for application in high density urban settings. Index: ● the design criteria ● the design concept ● development of the design ● simulation of the design ● implementation of the design ● reflection & feedback

For an existing facade structure of the faculty of architecture a new concept is designed. It involves a curtain wall with a loadbearing welded glass construction as a posterior construction. The total construction is built out of starshaped elements, these elements are demountable because of the designed joint. The joint is based on the torque bicycle principle. The stability of the glass facade is set with the help of steel cables. For the application of welded glass, expirimental research is done to evaluate the specimen on strength, geometrical accuracies and its failure behaviour.

Additive manufacturing (AM) is a relatively new discipline that offers great potential for designers in every industry. When further developed, this new method of manufacturing, which eliminates tooling and uses additive material processing for fabrication, could have major impact on the way we design, manufacture and sell new products. This thesis focused on the possibilities AM offers to change façade design in the future.

The sustainable solution of a prefabricated façade system with timber frame panels was the issue of this thesis. The choice of materials was one of the tasks. The use of loam and ceramics in the façade panels were examined as an improvement of the indoor climate while minimizing the energy consumption for the system demands. The application of the materials in a façade system in the Dutch climate led to the study of the thermo active building systems (TABS) in the inner layer. The comparison with standard systems and tests of the model by hand calculations and computational tools - CAPSOL gave a better view of the performance of the system and suggestions for improvements. Prefabrication was analyzed at the case study of the Concept House with suggestions for the design of the components and ways of attaching the panel to the construction.

MET ALS BIJLAGE: AO poster. For an existing facade structure of the faculty of architecture a new concept is designed. It involves a curtain wall with a loadbearing welded glass construction as a posterior construction. The total construction is built out of starshaped elements, these elements are demountable because of the designed joint. The joint is based on the torque bicycle principle. The stability of the glass facade is set with the help of steel cables. For the application of welded glass, expirimental research is done to evaluate the specimen on strength, geometrical accuracies and its failure behaviour.

Architecture and sustainability are still considered being two single subjects that can’t be linked to each other. The goal of this project is to integrate those two subjects into one building and prove that a sustainable building could be architecture. In this project, the facade in combination with the shape and orientation of the building make it possible to have a very iconic building for this organization and gain all the needed energy at the same time.

Rotterdam is known as a creative city, and successful projects as the van Nelle factory, the Maassilos and the Groothandelsgebouw are there to prove this. The city is rightfully proud of this reputation. But unfortunately, these centers for creative business are not so visible in the city itself. The Creative Connection uses the program of the Stadswinkel as the perfect stepping stone to introduce a center for creative business right in the middle of Rotterdam - connecting the various businesses not only with each other, but also with the city and its inhabitants.