EWI FACADE RELOADED

When the climate-design of a building is failing, it doesn't have to be demolished or encumbered with mechanical climate-regulating systems. Re-designing the facade, or a face-swap so to say, could help to solve the problem and make it more durable at the same time.

The redesign of the facade of "EWI" (Faculty Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science) was meant as a practice to combine structural, constructive and climatic re-design into a low-energy building. Research, reference and innovation were the three main enforcers of the progression in the design-period. The initial research, discussion and design phase were launched in a collaborative setting, in groups of 4 students. This proved quite supportive towards the innovative mind and the eventual, individual, technical work.

The problem of the facade of EWI roots in its poor detailling and failing mechanical ventilation. The offices suffer from noise pollution from the mechanical ventilation, while overheating, which means the blinds at the south-facade are constantly shut. Bearing these problems in mind, we as a group of students decided to tackle the ventilation problem as a team by designing a hybrid double-facade which acts as an insulator in the cold seasons and a cooler in the hot seasons. The individual part was settled on the design of the light-pollution, which proves to be quite deadly for offices on the south-side. This problem was tackled by me through the adaptation of automated polarized windows, which give the facade a quite lively animate feel while blocking the direct sunlight at times when needed.