KINETIC ARCHITECTURE: DEVELOPING A SKIN USING BISTABLE AND SMART MATERIALS
Drawing inspiration from nature, kinetic building facades can change their form for optimized functionality and performance. However, current scholarly work on kinetic screens shows limited kinetic capabilities or dilated actuation time scales. New developments in material science have led scholars to propose shape-morphing devices with bistable structures that exhibit more than one equilibrium state. Bistability presents great potential for kinetic building facades, exhibiting large deflections and requiring low energy to transition between states, but it remains largely unexplored. This research overcomes this gap by using the development of a kinetic screen with bistable flaps actuated by smart materials as a case study (1) to determine how to design with bistable materials, (2) to identify adequate configurations for bistable screens and their actuation mechanism, and (3) to assess their daylight performance. The study starts by reviewing the state-of-the-art on smart materials used in building skins. Then, it proposes a digital workflow to help design bistable screens using building performance simulation and finite element analysis. Next, it explores the effects of the bistable flaps fabrication process on their shape morphing capacity, using prototyping and digital modeling. Finally, it assesses the daylight performance of a full-scale bistable screen to validate a digital model developed to simulate its performance. Results show that the bistable screen was able to help improve daylight conditions compared to a baseline case. This study help advance our understanding of bistability for architectural design, bringing forth a new generation of energy-efficient actuators that help design for a changing climate.
Project Link
https://arts.psu.edu/projects/smart-materials-and-buildings/
Advisers/Committee
