Modularity and adaptive architecture – A strategy for managing complex envelope systems

Authors

  • Valentino Manni Polytechnic University of Turin (Italy)
  • Luca Saverio Valzano Polytechnic University of Turin (Italy)

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.19229/2464-9309/14112023

Keywords:

adaptive architecture, adaptive building envelope, complexity, modularity, tessellations

Abstract

In the face of global climate change, the built environment is experiencing an increasing demand for energy to maintain indoor comfort conditions. Inspired by systemic thinking and biomimicry, adaptive architecture can give rise to complex building organisms that dynamically respond to environmental stimuli by modulating the physicality of their envelope, thereby reducing energy consumption for climate control. Illustrating a representative framework of projects and research highlights the role of modularity in adaptive architecture in terms of operational principles, control modes, response mechanisms, functional complexity, and structural complexity. This contribution underscores the centrality of modularity as a strategy to address the multidimensional complexity of technological systems for adaptive envelopes.

 

Article info

Received: 08/09/2023; Revised: 14/10/2023; Accepted: 26/10/2023

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Article Metrics Graph

Author Biographies

Valentino Manni, Polytechnic University of Turin (Italy)

He is a Researcher and Lecturer at the Department of Architecture and Design and Scientific Director of the Innovative Technological Systems Laboratory. His research has focused on sustainable architectural design, the exploitation of renewable energy sources for the building envelope, and technological systems for glazed facades and solar shading.
E-mail: valentino.manni@polito.it

Luca Saverio Valzano, Polytechnic University of Turin (Italy)

He is a PhD Candidate at the Department of Architecture and Design and a Teaching Associate at the Department of Structural Engineering Building and Geotechnical Engineering. His research focuses on studying adaptive biomimetic technological systems for the building envelope. During his studies, he has investigated topics such as construction in developing countries, the design of high-rise buildings, and parametric design.
E-mail: luca.valzano@polito.it

References

Albiñana, M. (2011), Media-ICT, Actar Publishers, Barcelona. [Online] Available at: issuu.com/actar/docs/media-ict [Accessed 20 October 2023].

Andaloro, B. (2021), “Il corpo fisico dell’architettura interattiva – Approcci scenario-based e generativo | The body of interactive architecture – Scenario-based and generative approaches”, in Agathón | International Journal of Architecture Art and Design, vol. 10, pp. 76-83. [Online] Available at: doi.org/10.19229/2464-9309/1072021 [Accessed 11 October 2023].

Antonini, E. (2019), “Incertezza, fragilità, resilienza | Uncertainty, fragility, resilience”, in Agathón | International Journal of Architecture Art and Design, vol. 6, pp. 6-13. [Online] Available at: doi.org/10.19229/2464-9309/612019 [Accessed 12 October 2023].

Andronov, A. A., Vitt, A. A. and Khaikin, S. E. (1966), Theory of oscillators, Pergamon Press, London.

Ashby, W. R. (1957), An introduction to cybernetics, Chapman & Hall, London.

Bellelli, F. (2022), “The fascinating world of Voronoi diagrams – A brief introduction about this ubiquitous pattern and its applications”, in Towards Data Science, 02/04/2022. [Online] Available at: towardsdatascience.com/the-fascinating-world-of-voronoi-diagrams-da8fc700fa1b [Accessed 20 October 2023].

Benyus, J. (1997), Biomimicry – Innovation Inspired by Nature, Harper-Collins Publisher, New York.

Birmingham Energy Institute (2015), Doing Cold Smarter, University of Birmingham, Birmingham. [Online] Available at: birmingham.ac.uk/Documents/college-eps/energy/policy/Doing-Cold-Smarter-Report.pdf [Accessed 14 October 2023].

Butera, F. M. (2021), Affrontare la complessità – Per governare la transizione ecologica, Edizioni Ambiente, Milano.

Capra, F. (2015), La rete della vita, BUR Rizzoli, Milano.

CIESIN, IFPRI and CIAT (2011), Global Rural-Urban Mapping Project, Version 1 (GRUMPv1) – Urban Extents Grid, NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC), Palisades, New York. [Online] Available at: doi.org/10.7927/H4GH9FVG [Accessed 14 October 2023].

Ciribini, G. (1984), Tecnologia e progetto – Argomenti di cultura tecnologica della progettazione, Celid, Torino.

Ciribini, G. (1979), Introduzione alla tecnologia del design – Metodi e strumenti logici per la progettazione dell’ambiente costruito, FrancoAngeli, Milano.

Davino, G. and Bassolino, E. (2019), “Strategie di progettazione adattiva per il retrofit di edifici in risposta ai cambiamenti climatici | Adaptive design strategies for buildings’ retrofit in response to climate change”, in Agathón | International Journal of Architecture, Art and Design, vol. 6, pp. 192-199. [Online] Available at: doi.org/10.19229/2464-9309/6182019 [Accessed 11 October 2023].

d’Estrée Sterk, T. (2005), “Building upon Negroponte – A hybridized model of control suitable for responsive architecture”, in Automation in Construction, vol. 14, issue 2, pp. 225-232. [Online] Available at: doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2004.07.003 [Accessed 19 October 2023].

De Toni, A. F. and Comello, L. (2005), “Complessità e organizzazione, ovvero verso le auto-organizzazioni”, in complexlab. [Online] Available at: complexlab.it/Members/lucacomello/articoli/complessita-e-organizzazione-ovvero-verso-le-auto-organizzazioni [Accessed 14 October 2023].

Delaunay, B. (1934), “Sur la sphere vide – A la mémoire de Georges Voronoï”, in Bulletin de l’Académie des Science de l’URSS, vol. 6, pp. 793-800. [Online] Available at: mathnet.ru/php/getFT.phtml?jrnid=im&paperid=4937&what=fullt&option_lang=rus [Accessed 19 October 2023].

Friedenberg, J. (2019), “The Perceived Beauty of Regular Polygon Tessellations”, in Symmetry, vol. 11, issue 8, n. 984, pp. 1-17. [Online] Available at: doi.org/10.3390/sym11080984 [Accessed 20 October 2023].

Hadamard, J. (1921), “L’ Œuvre mathématique de Poincaré”, in Acta Mathematica, XXXVII, pp. 203-287. [Online] Available at: doi.org/10.1007/BF02392071 [Accessed 19 October 2023].

Hofstadter, D. R. (1985), “L’architettura del Jumbo”, in Bocchi, G. and Ceruti, M. (eds), La sfida della complessità, Feltrinelli, Milano, pp. 274-309.

IEA (2022), “Building Envelopes”, in iea.org. [Online] Available at: iea.org/reports/building-envelopes [Accessed 14 October 2023].

Jeronimidis, G. and Gruber, P. (2012), “Has biomimetics arrived in architecture?”, in Bioinspiration & Biomimetics, vol. 7, issue 1, pp. 1-2. [Online] Available at: doi.org/10.1088/1748-3182/7/1/010201 [Accessed 2 August 2023].

Kuboki, H., Tanaka, H., Ohno, S., Sugita, K., Takayanagi, N., Nakajima, N., Yuasa, K. and Nakatani, T. (2019), “A Proposal for Reactive Wall Panel using Auxetic Patterns”, in Proceedings of 4DFF2019, Keio University, Tokyo. [Online] Available at: fab.sfc.keio.ac.jp/paper/files/kuboki_4dff_fin.pdf [Accessed 14 October 2023].

Langlois, R. N. (2000), “Modularity in Technology and Organization”, in Journal of Economic Behaviour and Organization, vol. 49, issue 1, pp. 19-37. [Online] Available at: sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0167268102000562 [Accessed 14 October 2023].

Lejeune Dirichlet, J. P. G. (1850), “Über die Reduktion der positiven quadratischen Formen mit drei unbestimmten ganzen Zahlen”, in Journal für die Reine und Angewandte Mathematik, vol. 40, pp. 209-227. [Online] Available at: gdz.sub.uni-goettingen.de/dms/resolveppn/?PPN=GDZPPN002146894 [Accessed 19 October 2023].

Lucarelli, M. T., Milardi, M., Mandaglio, M. and Musarella, C. C. (2020), “Fenomeni macro vs risposte micro – Approcci multiscalari nei rapporti dinamici tra involucro e contesto | Macro phenomena vs micro responses – Multiscale approaches in the dynamic relationship between envelope and context”, in Agathón | International Journal of Architecture Art and Design, vol. 7, pp. 26-33. [Online] Available at: doi.org/10.19229/2464-9309/73202 [Accessed 12 October 2023].

Maturana, H. R. and Varela, F. J. (1985), Autopiesis and Cognition – The Realization of the Living, D. Reidel Publishing Company. [Online] Available at: monoskop.org/images/3/35/Maturana_Humberto_Varela_Francisco_ Autopoiesis_and_Congition_The_Realization_of_the_Living.pdf [Accessed 14 October 2023].

Mazzucchelli, E. S. (2018), “L’Involucro di Edifici Complessi – Aspetti Progettuali e Costruttivi”, in Modulo, vol. 415, pp. 78-83. [Online] Available at: modulo.net/files/chunks/5bed911ca0d55630c4000875/5bed9165a0d55630da 00084f.pdf [Accessed 14 October 2022].

Meisner, G. (2014), “Is the Nautilus shell spiral a golden spiral?”, in The Golden Number, 08/02/2014. [Online] Available at: goldennumber.net/nautilus-spiral-golden-ratio/ [Accessed 20 October 2023].

Morin, E. (1985), “Le vie della complessità”, in Bocchi, G. and Ceruti, M. (eds), La sfida della complessità, Feltrinelli, Milano, pp. 25-36.

Negroponte, N. (1975), Soft Architecture Machines, The MIT Press, Cambridge. [Online] Available at: doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/6317.001.0001 [Accessed 14 October 2023].

Ohira, M., Eguchi, S., Okabe, C. and Tanaka, H. (2022), “Demonstrating ex-CHOCHIN – Shape/Texture-changing cylindrical interface with deformable origami tessellation”, in UIST ’22 Adjunct – Adjunct Proceedings of the 35th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology, Association for Computing Machinery, New York, article 57, pp. 1-3. [Online] Available at: doi.org/10.1145/3526114.3558626 [Accessed 14 October 2023].

Overvelde, J. T. B., Weaver, J. C., Hoberman, C. and Bertoldi, K. (2017), “Rational design of reconfigurable prismatic architected materials”, in Nature, vol. 541, pp. 347-352. [Online] Available at: nature.com/articles/nature20824 [Accessed 14 October 2023].

Penrose, R. (1974), “The role of aesthetics in pure and applied mathematical research”, in Bulletin of the Institute of Mathematics and Its Applications, vol. 7-8, issue 10, pp. 266-271.

Piaget, J. (1978), Structuralism, Harper and Row, New York.

Poincaré, H. (1909), Science et méthode, Flammarion, Paris.

Poincaré, H. (1905), La valeur de la science, Flammarion, Paris.

Poincaré, H. (1902), La science et l’hypothèse, Flammarion, Paris. [Online] Available at: henripoincarepapers.univ-lorraine.fr/chp/hp-pdf/hp1917sh.pdf [Accessed 19 October 2023].

Prigogine, I. (1993), Le leggi del caos, Laterza, Bari.

Rispoli, G. (2012), Dall’empiriomonismo alla tectologia – Organizzazione, complessità e approccio sistemico nel pensiero di Aleksandr Bogdanov, Aracne, Roma.

Robinson, R. M. (1971), “Undecidability and Nonperiodicity for Tilings of the Plane”, in Inventiones Mathematicae, vol. 12, issue 3, pp. 177-209. [Online] Available at: doi.org/10.1007/BF01418780 [Accessed 20 October 2023].

Rodonò, G. (2022), Tecnologia dei componenti cinetici per l’architettura – Origami e superfici pieghevoli, Edicom Edizioni, Monfalcone.

Rogers, R. (1998), Cities for a Small Planet, Basic Books, New York.

Salingaros, N. A. (n.d.), “La Legge della Varietà Necessaria e l’ambiente costruito”, in La Direzione | Rivista dell’Innovazionismo. [Online] Available at: ladirezione.it/la-legge-della-varieta-necessaria-e-lambiente-costruito-di-nikos-a-salingaros/ [Accessed 20 October 2023].

Schrödinger, E. (1926a), “Quantisierung als Eigenwertproblem”, in Annalen der Physik, vol. 384, issue 4, pp. 361-376. [Online] Available at: dx.doi.org/10.1002/andp.19263840404 [Accessed 19 October 2023].

Schrödinger, E. (1926b), “Quantisierung als Eigenwertproblem”, in Annalen der Physik, vol. 81, pp. 109-139. [Online] Available at: gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k15383q/f117.item [Accessed 19 October 2023].

Sidewalk Labs (2019a), Toronto Tomorrow – A new approach for inclusive growth, vol. 1. [Online] Available at: storage.googleapis.com/sidewalk-labs-com-assets/MIDP_Volume1_printerfriendly_e108cdf1c6/MIDP_Volume1_ printerfriendly_e108cdf1c6.pdf [Accessed 22 October 2023].

Sidewalk Labs (2019b), Toronto Tomorrow – A new approach for inclusive growth, vol. 2. [Online] Available at: storage.googleapis.com/sidewalk-labs-com-assets/MIDP_Volume2_printerfriendly_722347160d/MIDP_Volume2_ printerfriendly_722347160d.pdf [Accessed 22 October 2023].

Smith, D., Myers, J. S., Kaplan, C. S. and Goodman-Strauss, C. (2023), “A chiral aperiodic monotile”, in ArXiv, 28/05/2023. [Online] Available at: doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2305.17743 [Accessed 20 October 2023].

Sorrenti, D. (2017), Modelli per le scelte tecnologiche, Università C. Cattaneo LIUC, Castellanza. [Online] Available at: my.liuc.it/MatSup/2017/N75310/5.%20Modularit%C3%A0%20-%20A.A.%202017%20-%202018.pdf [Accessed 14 October 2023].

Tachi, T. (2011), “Rigid-foldable Thick Origami”, in Wang-Iverson, P., Lang, R. J. and YIM, M. (eds), Proceedings of Origami 5 – Fifth International Meeting of Origami Science, Mathematics, and Education, CRC Press, pp. 253-263. [Online] Available at: doi.org/10.1201/b10971-24 [Accessed 14 October 2023].

Thompson, D. W. (1992), On Growth and Form, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. [Online] Available at: doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107325852 [Accessed 14 October 2023].

Toscano, M. (2008), Un pensiero complesso – Riflessioni storiche ed epistemologiche sulla scoperta del caos nell’opera di Jules Henri Poincaré | Une pensee complexe – Reflexions historiques et epistemologique sur la decouverte du chaos dans l’œuvre de Jules Henri Poincare, Tesi di Dottorato in Antropologia ed Epistemologia della Complessità, XXI ciclo, 2007-2008, Relatori Giannetto E. and Boi L., Università degli Studi di Bergamo. [Online] Available at: aisberg.unibg.it/retrieve/e40f7b84-0108-afca-e053-6605fe0aeaf2/Tesi%20Marco%20Toscano.pdf [Accessed 19 October 2023].

Tsiamis, M., Oliva, A. and Calvano, M. (2018), “Algorithmic Design and Analysis of Architectural Origami”, in Nexus Network Journal, vol. 20, pp. 59-73. [Online] Available at: doi.org/10.1007/s00004-017-0361-9 [Accessed 14 October 2023].

Tucci, F. (2017), “Paradigmi della Natura per Progettare Involucri architettonici | Nature’s Paradigms for Designing Architectural Envelopes”, in Agathόn | International Journal of Architecture Art and Design, vol. 2, pp. 47-54. [Online] Available at: 10.19229/2464-9309/262017 [Accessed 11 October 2023].

Tucci, G. and Carlo Ratti Associati (2023), “La tecnologia come abilitatore di un nuovo ecosistema urbano responsivo – Intervista a Carlo Ratti (CRA Studio) | Technology as an enabler of a new ecosystem responsive urbanism – Interview with Carlo Ratti (CRA Studio)”, in Agathón | International Journal of Architecture Art and Design, vol. 12, pp. 190-201. [Online] Available at: doi.org/10.19229/2464-9309/12172022 [Accessed 12 October 2023].

Ulber, M. and Mahall, M. (2019), “L’architettura adattiva come mediatrice fra gli uomini e la terra | Adaptive architecture as mediator between humans and earth”, in Agathón | International Journal of Architecture Art and Design, vol. 6, pp. 94-103. [Online] Available at: doi.org/10.19229/2464-9309/692019 [Accessed 12 October 2023].

UNEP (2020), 2020 Global Status Report for Buildings and Construction – Towards a Zero-emission, Efficient and Resilient Buildings and Construction Sector. [Online] Available at: globalabc.org/news/launched-2020-global-status-report-buildings-and-construction [Accessed 14 October 2021].

UNEP (2016), Global Status Report 2016 – Towards Zero-Emission, Efficient and Resilient Buildings. [Online] Available at: globalabc.org/resources/publications/gabc-global-status-report-2016-towards-zero-emission-efficient-and-resilient [Accessed 14 October 2023].

von Foerster, H. (2003), Understanding Understanding – Essays on Cybernetics and Cognition, Springer-Nature, New York. [Online] Available at: doi.org/10.1007/b97451 [Accessed 14 October 2023].

Wang, H. (1961), “Proving theorems by pattern recognition – II”, in The Bell System Technical Journal, vol. 40, issue 1, pp. 1-41. [Online] Available at: doi.org/10.1002/j.1538-7305.1961.tb03975.x [Accessed 20 October 2023].

Weaver, W. (1948), “Science and Complexity”, in American Scientist, vol. 36, issue 4, pp. 536-544. [Online] Available at: jstor.org/stable/27826254 [Accessed 19 October 2023].

Wiener, N. (1948), Cybernetics – Or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine, Kessinger, New York.

Aperiodic, never repeating ‘ein stein’ tessellations (source: Smith et alii, 2023). AGATHÓN 14 | 2023

Downloads

Published

31-12-2023

How to Cite

Manni, V. and Valzano, L. S. (2023) “Modularity and adaptive architecture – A strategy for managing complex envelope systems”, AGATHÓN | International Journal of Architecture, Art and Design, 14, pp. 134–151. doi: 10.19229/2464-9309/14112023.