Breathing façades: a new concept to create dynamic thermal ambiances in buildings located in hot climates

Mahmoud Elghawaby (1)

1 Laboratoire ABC

Mimicking nature is not a new approach, but has been recently reformu-lated under the scientific term: "biomimicry". It aims to innovate non-biological systems inspired by nature. This article proposes a new rereading of this concept in architecture and in particular in building ventilation systems. The various methods of thermal adaptation to hot climat found in nature provide a wide source of inspiration in order to develop new concepts for achieving thermal comfort. This research introduces "breathing skins" as a bio-inspired idea, found in the skins of living organisms. It examines the changes in building thermal behavior when the overall area of façades deals with natural ventilation. This research reformulates this approach through proposing a conceptual model adapted to hot climate.

Mots clés: biomimicry; dynamic ambiance; breathing walls; Sinai

Domaines: Architecture, aménagement de l'espace; Sociologie

Mahmoud Elghawaby. Breathing façades: a new concept to create dynamic thermal ambiances in buildings located in hot climates. Ambiances in action / Ambiances en acte(s) - International Congress on Ambiances, Montreal 2012, Sep 2012, Montreal, Canada. pp.215-220. ⟨halshs-00745048⟩