TechAdZero – Key technologies of adaptive building skins for nearly zero energy high-rise buildings

Starting point / motivation

The EPBD requires all new buildings from 2021 to be nearly zero-energy buildings (nZEB). Meanwhile, China has issued and implemented the “Technical Standard for Nearly Zero Energy Consumption Buildings” GB/T 51350 since 2019.

The building envelope is of particular importance in the design of nZEBs. Besides active energy production, the building’s skin can act as an adaptable filter between the external and internal environmental conditions. The physical properties of high-rise building façades at present are however unable to adapt to changing conditions in a significant manner, leading to difficulties achieving the near-zero energy goal. This applies to both, the constantly, on various time-scales changing external conditions defined by radiation, daylight, temperatures, air quality and wind loads, and needs of building occupants on the internal side. Existing adaptive façades are currently often limited to one specific requirement such as automated shading systems but are far from being smart and holistically solving the façade’s functions. A smart, adaptable façade should be able to mediate internal and external requirements, to reduce energy-losses or harvest renewable energy and to provide highest thermal and visual comfort to the users of the building.


Results

The main goal is to explore the potential of adaptive façades for typical high-rise building envelopes in different climate-zones:

• To design, develop and assess evaluation methods and parametric simulation models for the performance characterization of innovative proactive building skins that are able to capture the transient and multi-parametric performance of adaptive façades in specific climate zones throughout China and Austria (thermal, electric and daylighting performance characterization)
• To develop advanced control strategies and new combinations of innovative technologies with a low degree of technological maturity for proactive façades
• To develop design guidelines for industrialized proactive building skins in different climate zones, accounting for energetic, technological, architectural/aesthetical, and comfort viewpoints
• To develop new suitable testing and monitoring methods, that are able to capture the relevant, dynamically fluctuating properties of proactive building envelopes
• Der Nachweis der Leistungsfähigkeit der neuen Methoden und Ansätze durch Labortests von Funktionsmustern adaptiver Fassadenelemente.
• To proof the capability of the new methods and approaches by laboratory testing of functional samples of adaptive façade elementsTo prepare the basis for the implementation of the project results on laboratory scale for the further implementation in the Austrian use case “Post City Linz” and further use cases in China