Rome 12 October 2015

The DaaDgroup – Digital augmented architectural Design – is a small Research group of Sapienza University of Rome, one of the oldest universities as it was established in 1303.
From the outset, the DaaDgroup was involved in AI and in the most advanced methodologies applied to architectural design, and was founded by the prof. Gianfranco Carrara in the Eighties.
The DaaDgroup with pleasure announces that will be awarded with the 5th Honorary Mention at VisionArtech Innovation Inspired by Nature contest “Biomorphic design in the project of a regenerative global society” at Pirelli Building in Milan on the 16th October. In 2016, VisionArtech will examine possibilities to develop concretely the project.
The project “Biomimetic computational design for double skin façades in hot climate.
A porous folded façade for office buildings” has been developed by PhD students Salma El Ahmar and Kareem El Sayed, with the collaboration of Ugo Maria Coraglia and Francesco Rossini.
Other Members of DaaD group are the PhDs Armando Trento, Gianluigi Loffreda, Davide Simeone, Silvia Gargaro, Stefano Cursi and the prof. Gabriele Novembri.
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.

 

www.visionartech.eu
PhD Antonio Fioravanti
President of DaaDgroup