Project Description
FROM THE AIA:
As a pavilion, this project’s function is to provide comfortable, shaded space using a new building material. Using sheet thermobimetal, an inexpensive “smart” material that automatically curls when heated, building skins can self-ventilate and sun-shade, while reducing its dependency on mechanical air conditioning as well as indirectly decreasing a city’s “heat island” effect. When heated by the sun or air temperature, the surface, a lamination of two alloys of metal with different coefficients of expansion, curls. When cooled, the surface tiles return to their original flat state. With today’s digital technology and driving interest in sustainable design, this simple material can transcend its currently limited role as a small mechanical actuating device to a dynamic building surface material, while expanding the discourse of performative architecture.
See all of the winners of the AIA’s 2015 Small Projects Awards here.