Folding fan fac̦ade : designing an actuated adaptive fac̦ade system for fine-grain daylight control

Abstract

In architecture, natural light is one of the main factors to consider when designing a building or a room. A building has to be designed in such a way to allow the right amount of natural light in which influences the building occupants' visual and thermal comfort level. Curtains, blinds, shades, or shutters are the most common static shading methods currently used to regulate the amount of sunlight coming into a room. However, traditional blinds or shades cannot be customized with respect to fine-grain localized control, which can result in suboptimal indoor lighting levels when the blinds or shades are down. While static window treatments are practical low-cost options, they cannot offer the level of adjustment that dynamic shadings can provide. Majority of the time, occupants of a room have the freedom to adjust the shades; however, the shades are often left in one position since occupants are not willing to constantly adjust the shutters every time the outside environmental conditions change. Unlike traditional blinds, adaptive fac̦ades are designed to automatically adjust positions depending on the environmental changes or have the ability to be fine-grain controlled by the occupant. Because of the ability to respond to fluctuating weather conditions, adaptive fac̦ades can provide optimal indoor day lit space. The purpose of this thesis is to design and build a proof-of-concept prototype of a folding fan-shaped actuated adaptive facade system. Because of the scope of this thesis, the prototype is designed to fit in one of the windows at McCormick Hall instead of a full scale building fac̦ade. There are 13 fan-shaped shades units that can be individually controlled to reduce direct sunlight coming into the indoor space. The results demonstrate that this technology can be designed and built with a modest budget and commonly available tools to achieve high quality results for customized daylight control.