Design approaches and typologies of adaptive facades: A review

Abstract

The most ambitious challenge for designers is an effective shading system that is able to keep the balance between the daylight harvesting and view out maximization while minimizing discomfort risks and building's energy load. In the literature, several definitions exist for an adaptive façade and many terminologies were introduced and used interchangeably. Therefore, this paper aims to distinguish the existing adaptive system typologies based on their key characteristics. In addition, a review based on a systematic search is conducted to outline possible design approaches towards non-conventional adaptive facades (AFs) through simulations at early stage of design. As the main research outcome, most of the studies evaluated indoor daylighting level and discomfort glare through parametric tools, while none of them proposed a specific control strategy to predict non-conventional adaptive facades' performance. These observations emphasize existing research gaps in this field that can affect the applicability of such facades in real practices. © 2020 Elsevier B.V.