A building facade with dozens of sets of fluttering flaps — reminiscent of butterfly wings — may look like something straight out of science fiction, but it's actually an innovative way to control climate in a sustainable way.
The facade is called FlectoLine, and it's been in use for two years on a greenhouse as part of botanical gardens at Germany's University of Freiburg, New Atlas reported. It's being developed through a partnership between the school and the University of Stuttgart, also in Germany.
The technology uses two bio-inspired mechanisms to control how much solar thermal energy can enter the building's windows. Each shading element comprises a set of flaps that can either fold together — covering the window — or apart, allowing more light to enter.
Researchers shared that their overall design was inspired by the appendages of the carnivorous aquatic waterwheel plant, which functions similarly to the closing flaps on a Venus flytrap. And the pneumatic "hinge zone" that controls the flap's movements was inspired by the veins in a particular striped bug, Graphosoma italicum, which uses air to fold open shuttered wings.
Similarly, air that gets pumped into the facade's elastic hinges opens the flaps, allowing more light into the windows.
In warm weather, the flaps shade the windows, reducing the amount of heat entering via solar thermal energy and minimizing the demand on the building's cooling system. Conversely, in cool weather, the flaps open in order to bring in as much heat as possible and reduce the need for heating.
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The system can be controlled manually or automatically, and it draws power from solar photovoltaic cells on its exterior, further reducing the need for traditional and polluting energy sources.
The scientists behind the design were recently awarded a special prize at the first-ever Award for Bio-Inspired Innovations Baden-Württemberg.
Biomimicry — the idea of designing sustainable, renewable systems to mimic nature's organic processes — has become popular in architecture.
For example, Zimbabwe's Eastgate Centre ventilates its buildings with a similar system that African termites use in their self-cooling mounds. And Singapore's Super Trees mimic trees' forms and functions in massive 150-foot tall vertical gardens that also provide shade, collect rainwater, filter air, and generate electricity using solar panels.
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"In light of the challenges posed by climate change, architecture must take new directions," Edith Gonzalez, a research associate with the University of Stuttgart, shared with New Atlas. "With FlectoLine, we have successfully demonstrated how much potential adaptive facades hold in this regard."
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