Contemporary architectural trends of predominantly glazed facades correspond to the human desire of maximal daylight and transparency inside of their built environment. However, such large glazed areas come along with a large amount of solar radiation which has a major impact on a building’s interior tempering.
Particularly in such regions with tropical climatic conditions the probability of overheating is supplemented with a frequent lack of air ventilation due to constantly high ambient humidity. High energy consuming ventilation and air conditioning systems are often required to provide a pleasant indoor climate. For instance the number of private households with air-conditioning in Malaysia have increased from 13.000 in 19070 (0.8%) to 775.000 in 2000 (16.2%). In fact, 29% of the total yearly Energy Consumption of Malaysia (24.5 GJ/ year) is used for cooling processes, including Air Conditioning systems and ceiling fans.
Within the scope of this research project the approach is to provide solutions for the central problem of poor ventilation and overheating at hot and humid locations by identifying if a facade envelope can operate as a self-regulating system responding to individual environmental conditions.

Read More »