Double Face 2.0 is a novel Trombe wall – a Solar wall – joining a strong identity and high technical performances. A Trombe wall is a passive system generally made out of thick and heavy stone-like material placed behind a layer of glass and air.
By harnessing the energy from the sun, a Trombe wall can reduce the energy demand of buildings for heating. By making the wall adjustable – rotatable in our case – it can also capture heat from internal sources thereby acting as a cooling device.
In response to the need of energy saving, such building elements can be shape-optimised for passive climate control and can also increase users’ engagement. Given a design concept, computational approaches help optimising and customising high-performance building elements for any environment and any type of user.
Double Face 2.0 was developed by research through design involving designing, 3D modelling, robotic FDM printing, prototyping, experimenting, simulating and simulation-based optimising. The result is a lightweight, adjustable, translucent Trombe that is tested in the Office Lab of The Green Village.
Except for being optimized for light transmittance and heat transfer, the beauty of the materials also lies in the crystal formation of the PCM, the flake-like appearance of the aerogel granules and the pearl-like gloss of the printed PETG.
By building their proof of concept at The Green Village the researchers want to conduct performance simulations and measurements.
