Abstract:

The cross-disciplinary activity in professional practice has resulted in innovations in all industries, most notably in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industries. An extremely promising and seductive technological innovation has been the architectural integration of Smart Materials, media that alters its properties by external stimuli (including changes in pH, magnetic fields, temperature, and ambient light levels). Though smart materials have been available for decades, they have only recently become at best special topics in courses and at worst, architectural gimmicks in professional practice. The relative novelty and associated high costs of these materials combined with a requisite background on topics beyond architectural practice have made smart materials inaccessible to many nascent designers. Though software simulation is an excellent alternative to design with smart materials, it fails to adequately simulate behaviours presented in the real world. It is imperative for students to tangibly experience the responsive potential of these smart materials not only in a controlled environment, but through a design project. It is only through understanding, experimentation, and refinement that a student becomes familiar with the idiosyncrasies of smart materials. This presentation showcases the value of thermochromics and photochromic pigments (heat-based and UV-radiation respectively) during the initial iterative design phase where smart materials are explored via computer and physically performance models in Canada’s largest Architectural Science program.

Keywords:

Smart materials, architectural design, pedagogy, responsive design.