The impacts of dynamic façade shading typologies on building energy performance and occupant’s multi-comfort

ABSTRACT

Despite a growing interest in dynamic facades shading systems, few studies have measured their actual performance in the field using full-scale prototypes or evaluated their performance in a comparative way. This paper reports on an important yet understudied topic related to comparing the performance of different dynamic shading typologies and assessing their impacts on building energy savings, daylighting distribution, glare control, and solar insolation management for a typical office space in ASHRAE Climate Zone 4C. Results show variations in performance across the dynamic shading typologies studied. While some systems show superior performance in reducing solar loads and building energy consumption, other typologies studied performed better in managing glare and providing better spatial daylight autonomy. The paper concludes with a framework for the parametric design and assessment of dynamic shade systems based on their performance and climatic suitability for the main eight ASHRAE’s climate zones.

KEYWORDS:

• Dynamic shades
• high-performance envelopes
• commercial buildings
• indoor comfort
• energy performance
• simulations
• field testing

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Corrigendum

Acknowledgements

The author would like to acknowledge the experimental innovative dynamic shade designs conducted by architectural students at the University of Oregon enrolled in the High-Performance Facades Seminar for fall 2014 and 2015, respectively. Special thanks to the facility staff at the Façade Innovative Technologies (FIT) and the High Performance Environments laboratory (HiPE) for testing the full-scale prototypes in 2014 and 2015.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

Funding for the testing was supported through the Activated Façade Research gift from Glumac Engineering. Both FIT and HiPE are signature laboratories supported by the Oregon Built Environment & Sustainable Technologies Center, Inc.(Oregon BEST).