VisionArtech - 5th Honorary Mention

A new building skin has been proposed that addresses the challenge of reducing cooling load and daylight needs of buildings in hot climatic areas. It represents a multi-disciplinary research-based design that links between architecture, biomimicry, and computational design. Ideas from nature serve as inspiration in designing a porous, folded double façade for an existing building in Cairo, aiming at increasing heat lost by convection in the cavity as well as reducing heat gained by radiation. The folded surface provides self-shading while a network of small perforations provides airflow, allowing the cavity to breathe and remove heated air. The cooling load and daylight performances of an existing room with a single façade were compared to a flat double façade and to our proposal. Results show a strong reduction of cooling loads by up to 12%, an increase in daylighting by 24% and a reduction of over-lit space by 53%. Our proposal improves wellbeing of building occupants, which increases productivity, introduces more advanced construction technologies into the building sector, establishes a sense of belonging to a global community that cares for the Environment and enhances local aesthetic urban quality.