Adaptive Architecture
the parameter of the climated

Project Details
Student/s: Orfanou Katerina
Date: September 27, 2016
The major target of the thesis was to investigate the methods and techniques that transform a building to adaptive minimising its needs for energy consumption. The focus of the project was to highlight in what ways a building can absorb the influences of the environment, cooperate with it and operate according to its needs.
The role of the building envelope was always to protect people from extreme weather conditions and at the same time to help them adapt easily to the environment. Unfortunately, recently due to the fact that the use of mechanical systems was increased the interior and exterior of a building were detached. The interior spaces nowadays can be completely different from the outside environment and that is why architecture does not take into account the climate. This definitely cannot continue for ever since despite the fact that mechanical equipment may provide temporary comfort, it creates numerous environmental problems. As a result, buildings must regain their role as a mean for the achievement of balance between the interior and exterior. Architecture must learn to respond to climate.
Nowadays, with the extreme revolution of technology, building designers can use information in a better way during the design. With the input of algorithms in design, climate can be a parameter that changes a building’s equation.Architecture becomes a living, dynamic entity with flow and movement collecting information from the environment, having the ability to learn, gaining experience and responding in the best possible way. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate for systems that can help architecture to learn how to adapt. Buildings must control the relationship between the users and the environment, balancing and satisfying both sides. In this way, environmental problems should be eliminated. As a result, smart materials are built and incorporated in buildings whose properties are shaped from the information they get from the environment. The function of these materials and their different types are briefly explained in this thesis. These materials are used in buildings, converting them to “smart buildings”. They are an integral part of the envelope, helping its users to efficiently manage the natural daylight and other parameters that provide comfort.
At the time that the thesis was written, all of those systems were just at their beginning. Their contribution in architecture is still to come and with the evolution of nanotechnology, their implementation could be easily achieved. There will be definitely changes at the building-user relationship, since people must learn how to cooperate and manage these systems. Changes will also occur in the shape of buildings, since this will vary during the stage of configuration.