The project aims to provide a shaded space for the rooftop recreational activities, to reduce energy consumption of the upper rooms by protecting them from radiation during the summer and to highlight the IaaC building in a urban scale, while combining its industrial facade with a contemporary element that represents its innovation and creativity.
The element is composed by four steel bent trusses that support the rails of two different kinetic installations of fabric panels that move in the opposite manner: one for shading and one for reflection. The panels for shading are made of a thicker fabric and follow the sun path in order to cover the rooftop area during morning and noon and the facade area during the evening, while the reflective panels are made of a thinner and colored fabric and receive the light of the sun in order to cast a color filter to the inhabited spaces. Also, on both sides of the structure, the shading panels are controlled with tensors that also react to the sun path and cover the rooftop area when the sun vectors are perpendicular to the structure. Finally, we decided that during the night, the fabric panels should rest on top of the area of the rooftop to provide a space for night time related activities and serve as a shelter and a reflective ceiling that illuminates the space by indirect artificial lighting,
This way, the project relies on climatic data analysis and live physics simulations during the form finding process to achieve an outcome that is suitable for its objectives. It also relies on computational methods, such as: unrolling, nesting and labeling, to facilitate the fabrication process.
