Investigation and projection of near- and far-term dynamic glazing systems for dynamic bioclimatic façades

Abstract

Windows have a significant impact on building energy use but additionally influence occupant comfort and the architectural aesthetic, creating a complex, multivariate, and interdisciplinary challenge. Contemporary buildings continue to pursue highly glazed envelopes despite conflicting issues with human comfort, health and energy use and have necessitated research into advanced windows for energy efficient buildings. While existing advanced window technologies have made incremental progress towards greater energy savings and commercialization, they remain limited in their comprehensive treatment of interdependent concerns. Emerging material possibilities not only point towards new physical phenomena for achieving transparency modulation, but demand a broader reinterpretation of the performance criteria and end goals for advanced glazing systems. If the performance criteria and research methodologies guiding glazing technology development are complicit in producing low-impact products that falter in the market place due to single-function value and limited socio-cognitive performance, then a broad trans-disciplinary research methodology operating under revised and comprehensive performance criteria will support the development of technologies with multiple value propositions capable of the diverse and ubiquitous implementation needed for a high-impact. In order to guide the development of ubiquitous dynamic façade technologies with multiple value propositions this research defines an expanded set of performance criteria and investigates three interrelated embodiments of dynamic façade pathways to meet the criteria: the electropolymeric dynamic daylighting system, a novel graphene oxide optical modulator, and functionalized graphene oxide for energy harvesting through solar water oxidation. In addition to highlighting an improved model of trans-disciplinary collaboration, this research critically expands the longstanding definition of the dynamic glazing problem, and advances co-modeling techniques, novel light modulating materials, and innovative energy harvesting materials. Together these represent a pathway for the development of multifunctional dynamic façades that are capable of satisfying criteria for enhanced human comfort, energy efficiency, and energy conversion.