Performative Building Skin Systems: A Morphogenomic Approach towards Developing Real-Time Adaptive Building Skin Systems

Abstract

Morphogenomics, a relatively new research area, involves understanding the role played by information regulation in the emergence of diverse natural and artificially generated morphologies. Performative building skin systems as a bottom-up parametric formation of context aware interdependent, ubiquitously communicating components leading to the development of continually performative systems is one of the multi-scalar derivations of the aforementioned Morphogenomic understanding. The agenda of adaptations for these building skins specifically corresponds to three domains of adaptation: structural, behavioral and physiological adaptations resulting in kinetic adaptability, energy generation, conservation, transport and usage principles as well as material property based changes per component. The developed skins adapt in real time via operating upon ubiquitous communication and data-regulation protocols for sensing and processing contextual information. Computational processes and information technology based tools and techniques such as parametric design, real-time simulation using game design software, environmental information mapping, sensing and actuating systems coupled with inbuilt control systems as well as manufacturing physical models in collaboration with praxis form a vital part of these skin systems. These experiments and analysis based on developing intrinsic inter-dependencies between contextual data, structure and material logistics thus lay the foundation for a new era of continually performing, self powering, real-time adaptive intelligent building skin systems.