Green wave
Green wave
A roof element that combats the urban heat island effect on its own and functions within an ecosystem of solutions to cooperate for an optimal effect.
Duration: 12 weeks
Year: 2024
Execution: Group project
Challenge: Design a product for buildings that combats the urban heat island effect.
Subchallenges:
The product needs to be based on biomimicry principles.
The THUAS campus building needs to be used as a case study.
The product needs to have another function besides cooling.
A biomimicry based solution:
To come up with this design, we, as a project group, started by researching organisms that have specific features that could be incorporated into our design. Eventually, we based our design on the following organisms:
Prairie dog: Bernoulli effect
Fan palm: shadow areas and passive ventilation
Corkscrew willow tree: evapotranspiration
Three Initial Concepts as an Ecosystem:
After conducting extensive research on organisms, ecosystems, and mutualistic relationships, we have come up with three concepts.
These three concepts work together in an ecosystem to combat urban heat. They achieve this by each covering a different surface area and sharing water.
Further develop roof elements from concept to final design:
The client asked us to focus on the roof elements because these were not as building specific as the other two and it had the highest chance of becoming a succesful product based on our criteria.
From concept to final product, we wanted to improve the following aspects:
Reduce weight
Increase modularity
Reduce parts and complexity
Improve overall manufacturability
The Final Design:
The final product is a fully modular roof element that can be adjusted to each building's specific needs based on the environment and other factors.
The product cools based on three principles:
Evapotranspiration
Shade
Passive airflow
These three principles combined create a heat reduction of up to 7°C.
Besides cooling, the product also provides an environment for plants, birds, and other organisms to thrive.
Software used:
