Mechanical Systems / Passive Envelopes:
Integrative Architectural Approaches?
Façade Systems Innovation in Germany 1993-2013
vorgelegt von
M. Arch.
Renato D’Alençon Castrillón
ORCID: 0000-0002-9069-8021
an der Fakultät VI – Planen Bauen Umwelt
der Technischen Universität Berlin
zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades
Doktor der Ingenieurwissenschaften
- Dr.-Ing. –
genehmigte Dissertation
Promotionsausschuss:
Vorsitzender: Prof. Eike Roswag-Klinge
Gutachter: Prof. Rainer Hascher
Gutachter: Prof. Dr. Ulrich Knaack (TU-Delft)
Gutachter: Prof. Dr. Peter Herrle
Tag der wissenschaftlichen Aussprache: 13. Februar 2020
Berlin 2023
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MECHANICAL SYSTEMS / PASSIVE ENVELOPES:
INTEGRATIVE ARCHITECTURAL APPROACHES?
FAÇADE SYSTEMS INNOVATION IN GERMANY
1993-2013
Doctoral Thesis by M. Arch. Renato D’Alençon Castrillón
Technische Universität Berlin
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CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION: HYBRID ENVELOPES / HYBRID BUILDINGS. INTEGRATION
OF ACTIVE AND PASSIVE SYSTEMS IN GLASS FAÇADES........................................5
ANALYSIS FRAMEWORK: SUSTAINABLE CULTURE AND TECHNIQUE INTO
ARCHITECTURE PRACTICE ...................................................................................................5
RESEARCH QUESTION ...........................................................................................................6
METHODOLOGY OF WORK AND OBJECTS OF STUDY .........................................................6
GOAL ......................................................................................................................................7
A CASE FOR CO-CONSTRUCTION OF TECHNICAL AND CULTURAL ....................................8
FIRST PART. ANALYTICAL, HISTORICAL AND TECHNICAL FRAMEWORK ...10
1. CONSTRUCTING ARCHITECTURE TECHNOLOGY: KNOWLEDGE,
CULTURE AND PRACTICES .............................................................................................10
TECHNIQUE, CULTURE AND SOCIETY ................................................................................11
A philosophy of technology and a sociology of architecture ....................................................13
Technological determinism, interpretative flexibility and the centrality of design ..................16
Materials v/s relations ..............................................................................................................19
ARCHITECTURE AND THE SOCIAL: KNOWLEDGE AND DISCOURSES ...............................20
A sociology for energy and buildings .......................................................................................21
Social construction of Architecture: a path from discourse to oeuvre .....................................22
Sustainable Architecture, Discourses and Practices ................................................................23
CULTURES OF ARCHITECTURAL PRACTICE ......................................................................25
Reflective Practice ....................................................................................................................26
Narratives of practice ...............................................................................................................28
Pragmatics of Practice .............................................................................................................29
SUMMARY: AN ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK ......................................................................31
REFERENCES TO CHAPTER 1 ..............................................................................................34
2. MECHANIZATION OF THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT: FROM HORIZONTAL
DISTRIBUTION TO VERTICAL DECENTRALIZATION ............................................36
ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL TOWARDS COMFORT ..........................................................37
Predominance of the sense of vision in culture and in architecture .........................................37
Broadening the qualities of architecture to the other senses ...................................................38
Thermal space: Architectural potential ....................................................................................38
MECHANIZATION AND HOMOGENIZATION OF THE TEMPERED ENVIRONMENT ..............39
Spatial implications of mechanization ......................................................................................41
From Horizontal Distribution to De-Centralized Equipment ..................................................46
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Vertical Distribution Columns .................................................................................................46
SERVICES INTEGRATION IN FAÇADES ................................................................................51
The tradition of the Factories, the Laboratories and the partial achievements of modernism 51
SUMMARY: A HISTORICAL FRAMEWORK .........................................................................56
REFERENCES TO CHAPTER 2 ..............................................................................................58
3. PASSIVE WISDOM AND MECHANICAL INNOVATION TECHNOLOGICAL
DEVELOPMENT AND TRENDS IN FAÇADES ...............................................................59
INNOVATION TOWARDS INTEGRATION IN FAÇADES .........................................................60
Double Skin Façade (DSF) ......................................................................................................60
Intelligent or Responsive Façades (IRF) ..................................................................................61
Advanced Integrated Façades (AIF) ........................................................................................62
DEVELOPMENT TRENDS IN FAÇADES .................................................................................64
Material technology research ...................................................................................................64
Design and simulation software ...............................................................................................65
Implementation of operation control systems ...........................................................................65
Hybrid ventilation .....................................................................................................................66
Integrated Building Concepts and Elements ............................................................................67
FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS .................................................................................................68
Active façades ...........................................................................................................................68
“Sustainable” HVAC................................................................................................................69
Decentralized ventilation ..........................................................................................................71
SUMMARY: INTEGRATION BY DESIGN ...............................................................................72
REFERENCES TO CHAPTER 3 ..............................................................................................74
SECOND PART: PASSIVE AND ACTIVE FAÇADES CASE STUDIES .......................76
4. DOUBLE SKIN FAÇADES (DSF): INTEGRATION OF PASSIVE SYSTEMS .76
MULTIPLE LAYER GLAZING AND BUFFER SPACES ...........................................................76
Bussiness Promotion Centre, Duisburg (1993): a pioneering building ...................................77
Götz Verwaltungsgebäude, Würzburg (1995): façade representativeness ...............................79
Office Building in Hallenseestrasse, Berlin (1996): Trial and Error ......................................82
VENTILATED DOUBLE SKIN FAÇADES ...............................................................................87
RWE Headquarters, Essen (1996): a patented system .............................................................88
STADTTOR Düsseldorf (1997): a patented component ...........................................................93
GSW Headquarters, Berlin (1999): A reference icon for architects and users ........................97
REFERENCES TO CHAPTER 4 ............................................................................................102
5. ACTIVE SYSTEMS INTEGRATION. DECENTRALIZED ENERGY SYSTEMS
AND MANAGEMENT ........................................................................................................105
INTEGRATION PROTOTYPES .............................................................................................105
SCHÜCCO Konzeptfassade, München (1999) A fair prototype ............................................105
TEmotion, Bellenberg (2005) Industry and research 106
InHaus 2, Duisburg (2008) A pototypr turned into a Lab .....................................................107
DECENTRALIZED HEATING, COOLING AND MECH. VENTILATION FAÇADES ...............109
Post Tower, Bonn (2002) A communicational Icon ...............................................................109
Capricorn House, Düsseldorf (2005) Fully Integrated ? .......................................................113
REFERENCES TO CHAPTER 5 ............................................................................................119
6. CONCLUSION: CONTROVERSY SETTLING BY DESIGN.............................122
7. GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................125
8. ANNEXES ..................................................................................................................126
LIST OF ELLABORATED CASES OF STUDY ...........................................................127
LIST OF MAIN SITE VISITS AND INTERVIEWS .....................................................128
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INTRODUCTION: HYBRID ENVELOPES / HYBRID BUILDINGS.
INTEGRATION OF ACTIVE AND PASSIVE SYSTEMS IN GLASS FAÇADES
Two main approaches can be recognized regarding architecture and energy. On the
one hand mechanical, energy intensive approach based on building services:
complex networks of heating, ventilation and air conditioning that supply comfort
conditions in spite of variable weather conditions. These are internal ducting and
piping, seldom visible, supporting the building operation “from the inside”. On the
other hand, passive, low-energy strategies claim for an architecture that is climate-
responsive and environmentally responsible. This approach is mostly based on a
careful adaptation of the building envelope, mediator between inside controlled
comfort conditions and outside weather variations.
Most research on façades emphasizes passive strategies, with minimum energy
consumption, a paradox considering the amount of parallel development taking place
in HVAC systems.
Integrating active building systems to the façades offer several potential advantages,
such as sparing space in ducts and big central units, allowing discretional decision
making closer to user needs, and simplifying the system by using smaller,
standardized machines are also promoted by the producers. As a result, façades are
increasingly being reconsidered by designers as potentially integrating active
systems. These emerging alternatives gain relevance both in research and practice,
and challenge designers to further develop the role of façades in the environmental
performance of the buildings.
However, these seemingly irreconcilable positions and practices have been showing
signs of coming to terms with each other. In several recent designs, particularly in
Germany, the choice has been made for a compromise that brings together in a new
blend these traditionally opposed strategies, with surprising results. Façades are
increasingly integrating not only sophisticated sun protection and other passive
devices, but also active systems, such as electric wiring and light, decentralized
HVAC, PV’s, etc. This poses a first question:
How do building façades and mechanical systems integrate?
To understand the process of change within building construction practices, ranging
from technical development and industry production to architectural design and site
work, a broader perspective needs to be open that includes the complexity of the
process of innovation presumably coming from scientific research to end-user
application. The environmental problems, when applied to buildings, usually draw
from the principles of sustainable construction, a concept however broad and even
vague in this context, is often invoked as a rationale and as a goal when it comes to
examine the envelope performance, be it due to regulations, technical possibilities, or
client requirements.
ANALYSIS FRAMEWORK: SUSTAINABLE CULTURE AND TECHNIQUE INTO
ARCHITECTURE PRACTICE
Technology is a prevailing feature in contemporary society, yet its cultural role has
been scarcely addressed in a critical perspective. A well settled, common-sensical
notion of technology prevails, that of technology as equivalent to progress, driving
development and supported by an autonomous, natural evolution which univocally
impacts on society. This separation is based on an explosive development of new
technologies from the industrial revolution, which has resulted in a progressive
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