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Bioinspired weather-responsive adaptive shading
"Most attempts at weather responsiveness in architectural facades rely heavily on elaborate technical devices. Our research explores how we can harness the responsiveness of the material itself through advanced computational design and additive manufacturing," says Professor Achim Menges, head of the Institute for Computational Design and Construction (ICD) and spokesperson for the Cluster of Excellence Integrative Computational Design and Construction for Architecture (IntCDC) at the University of Stuttgart.
The scientists used the movement mechanisms of pine cones as a model for the "Solar Gate", which opens and closes in response to changes in humidity and temperature without consuming any metabolic energy. The "Solar Gate" highlights the potential of accessible, cost-effective technologies such as additive manufacturing and shows how cellulose, as an abundant, renewable material, can contribute to sustainable architectural solutions. Publication Cheng, T., Tahouni, Y., Sahin, E.S., Ulrich, K., Lajewski, S., Bonten, C., Wood, D., Rühe, J., Speck, T., Menges, A.: 2024, Weather-responsive adaptive shading through biobased and bioinspired hygromorphic 4D-printing.
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