Kinetic Facades : Future Of Hi-Tech Office Buildings

Buildings use 40% of worldwide electricity generated and are responsible for one third of greenhouse gases being produced. India is 6th largest carbon dioxide producer in the world. As the economy grows, there is increase in commercial and business activities. Commercial buildings are responsible for about 7% of the total electricity consumption in the country. Lighting and air conditioning consume 80% of energy in offices. Also, over 80 % of greenhouse gas emissions take place during these operational activities. In addition to it, buildings emit non –CO2 gases like halocarbons, CFCs, and HCFCs and hydro fluorocarbons during cooling, refrigeration, etc. Many technological innovations have been made to make building operations cost effective and energy efficient [1]. High cost of construction of energy efficient buildings and continuous increase in electricity rates for commercial buildings has made it imperative to study various components of a corporate building and their role in energy efficiency. Building envelopes form an important part of a building and influence all the parameters of human existence. A building envelope has multiple functions and thus each of these functions needs its own mechanism. In addition to energy efficiency, a building envelope should meet the user comfort requirements [2]. Thus a multi-functional building envelope needs to be adaptive to the changing external environmental stimuli and function autonomously without human interference.This paper is focused on multi-functional building envelopes and development of kinetic facades around the world.