Evaluating the structural performance of adaptive facades: general rules and guidelines for classification, experimental testing and numerical modeling

Modern building envelopes are high-tech components that must meet requirements and constraints regarding architecture/urban planning/aesthetics, energy efficiency, indoor environmental quality, buildability and value. If a facade can respond to all the transient conditions while maintaining occupant satisfaction without imposing additional loads on the building services, it can be considered “fully adaptive”. However, an adaptive facade needs to fulfil a fundamental role as assigned to the structural performance of the same assemblies, under ordinary as well as exceptional loads, hence requiring specific safety levels and design concepts. Most of the systems representative of this next generation of facades typically consist of highly adaptive envelopes, generally involving smart materials, kinematic mechanisms, etc