Bio-inspired outdoor systems for enhancing citizens thermal comfort in public spaces by learning from nature

Syracuse, NY

In the last decades a variety of high-energy efficient solutions for building envelopes were developed and tested for enhancing indoor thermal comfort and improving indoor environmental quality of private spaces by learning from nature. To this aim, adaptive solutions, conceived thanks to green and bio inspiration, were designed and constructed in various climate conditions and for a variety of building uses. Given the huge population flow toward urban areas, well-being conditions in the public spaces of such dense built environment are being compromised, also due to anthropogenic actions responsible for massive environmental pollution, local overheating, urban heat island, etc. Moreover, this process is exacerbated by temporary phenomena such as heat waves. Therefore, outdoor spaces are becoming increasingly less comfortable and even dangerous for citizens, especially if they are affected by general energy poverty, with no chance for active systems management for air conditioning, or health vulnerability. In this view, this study concerns the first concept for the development of a simple and adaptive nature-inspired solution for outdoor thermal comfort enhancement and local overheating mitigation for pedestrians. The system will be evaluated in terms of the cradle-to-cradle approach and the initial performance assessment is carried out via thermal-energy dynamic simulation. The final purpose will be to design outdoor “alive” shading system to be applied in open public spaces, with evident physical and social benefits.

https://surface.syr.edu/ibpc/2018/posters/9