The Magazine

Home

About us

News

Interviews

Events

Showcase

Painting

Illustration

Sculpture

Digital Art

Photography

Graphic Design

Fashion Design

Product Design

Vehicle Design

Architecture

Special Effects

3D Modelling

Animation

Film Making

Green Envelopes
By Nick McGough

With Channel 4s Great Global Warming Swindle casting doubt on manmade CO2 as the main driver causing climate change there are those that would proclaim that it should be business as usual. However while the science may be argued and spun there is no doubt that increasing the efficiency of our buildings can only be a good thing.

Ethylene-tetra-fluoro-ethylene (ETFE), probably best known as the foil cladding for the Biomes at Grimshaw Architects’ Eden Project, presents a number of interesting possibilities. ETFE, originally developed for the space industry, is self cleaning, recyclable, lighter, more insulating, and has 10 times less embodied energy per sq.m. than glass. But where it really becomes a truly responsive proposition is in its potential for sophisticated pneumatic controls. By creating multi-layered cushions and varying pressure differentials between layers the transparency and thermal performance of the envelope can be controlled. Printing techniques using overlapping gestalt patterns on the different cushion layers not only produce aesthetically interesting moiré effects but allow a translucent cushion to become fully opaque. This technique was demonstrated at the Dualles Pavilion at Hannover Expo 2000.

Innovations such as this allow maximum daylight to penetrate the envelope while providing shading only when required, reducing the energy use of the building. Ultimately the complex compromise of natural daylight vs. heat gain can be completely avoided. Surely this is the kind of green thinking no one can argue against.