A design framework for a kinetic shading device system for building envelopes

Abstract

This paper presents a design framework of a shading device applied on a building envelope, with a scheduled automatic activation logic, based on a sun path diagram. This proposal aims to balance the direct sun indoor exposure by evaluating the envelope area exposed to direct sun rays and the hourly activation rate of shading devices. These procedures are over the parametric modeling and simulation platform using raytracing, structural finite element analysis, and Computer Numerical Control (CNC) prototyping. The design process of building envelopes equipped with kinetic devices can use all these design resources. The kinetic device's activation logic relies on the feed-forward paradigm, scheduling the activation from the parametric modeling and the sun path diagram, using an angle threshold between the device post and the sun vector as a parameter. The design framework showed the preliminary path to develop shading devices considering the building envelope shape with a feed-forward activation logic based on local sun path characteristics.