Biomimetic Approaches for Adaptive Building Envelopes: Applications and Design Considerations

Riham Nady Faragallah

doi:10.13189/cea.2021.090731

Abstract

In the past decade, the evolution of biomimicry architecture was considered as an important issue for achieving adaptation strategies to cope with the different climatic aspects and to provide thermal comfort inside buildings which suit various environmental conditions. Egypt is one of the countries that faces the problem of using excessive energy to cool buildings due to weak building envelopes especially during the summer season that needs to be solved through biomimicry design approaches. The paper assumes that the role of nature design has a significant influence to promote occupants’ comfort, ensure energy conservation of the building and can be seen as an important contribution to sustainability of the built environment. The paper presents the concept and development of biomimicry architecture and its impact on building envelopes. Then, it analyses different biomimetic design applications in hot arid climates to conclude adaptable design considerations that are flexible and responds to differences in their surrounding context. Finally, the third part concludes a biomimicry design matrix for building envelopes that can act as a road map for adaptive implementations. The scope of the paper is the study and analysis of biomimicry as an important tool for architectural design and sustainable construction focusing on the possibility of applying biomimetic principles for adaptive building envelopes describing their potential for future building design in hot arid regions.

Highlights

Buildings act as a considerable environmental problem because they are responsible for relatively 23% of the world’s total basic energy usage and 30% of the global electricity consumption
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the global total energy consumption in buildings has increased by 48% due to space heating and cooling loads [1]
The building envelope becomes responsible with a major part to control climate, energy consumption and human comfort inside the building

Summary

Introduction

Buildings act as a considerable environmental problem because they are responsible for relatively 23% of the world’s total basic energy usage and 30% of the global electricity consumption. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the global total energy consumption in buildings has increased by 48% due to space heating and cooling loads [1]. A building envelope has been traditionally thought of as a thermal membrane which prevents heat loss and controls heat gain. In this context, the building envelope becomes responsible with a major part to control climate, energy consumption and human comfort inside the building. The envelope is commonly understood as a basic factor which affects the consumption of energy inside a building. Design variables (orientation of the outside wall) or design inputs provided by the surrounding (the outdoor temperature of the site) may affect the energy output of the building envelope

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