We demonstrate how moss-based green modules, photovoltaics, and digital media layers can be integrated into an intelligent net-zero energy facade that improves the urban microclimate, promotes biodiversity, and simultaneously creates an aesthetic added value.

The Next Generation Intelligent Skins is a new kind of sustainable media facade designed to meet today’s urban challenges: climate resilience and liveability. Instead of treating media and aesthetics as the main goal, this system integrates it as one vital and emerging layer of a broader multifunctional approach. The different layers of the system combine a green façade with photovoltaics, smart sensors, and interactive media to actively clean the air, regulate humidity, reduce the heat island effect, absorb noise, and generate energy. The strength of our multilayer solution, which goes beyond our initial zero-net approach pioneered for the Novartis Pavillon, is the synergetic effect between the different layers. Each layer reinforces the others: evaporative cooling from moss increases photovoltaic efficiency, while kinetic elements regulate the moss’s microclimate and provide shading. To demonstrate the concept, we developed a prototype and tested different combinations of base structure, naturally grown moss, irrigation with algorithmic optimization, kinetic photovoltaics, and media components in a real setting on a roof in Basel. Early measurement results indicate more resilient moss growth and a perception of cooler immediate surroundings. In the urgent context of dense, high-pressure cities, our goal is to create a modular facade system that can also be retrofitted to existing buildings. The outcome is a living, self-sustaining skin for cities: an adaptive media architecture that produces energy, supports biodiversity, and transforms media and aesthetics into drivers of urban resilience.

https://iart.ch/en/news/next-generation-intelligent-skins

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEUZL3Ez0LY

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Details

Project artist/ concept/ design/ planning : iart – studio for media architectures

Facade design : iart – studio for media architectures

Facade construction : iart – studio for media architectures

Kinetic engineering : iart – studio for media architectures

Membrane skin : Respyre (Moss layer)

Descriptions

Facade type and geometry (structure) : The Next Generation Intelligent Skins prototype builds on the innovative Novartis Pavillion structure. It expands on the original setup through multiple functional improvements like kinetic actuation of the photovoltaic panels, smart environmental sensing and an irrigation system to facilitate the green layer beneath. Combining these elements marks another evolutionary step in the creation of a sustainable, modular media facade system.

Kind of light creation : The electricity generated by the organic solar cells is used to illuminate the building. The LEDs integrated alongside the PV cells shine both outwards and in the direction of the moss, causing their light to provide illumination of the moss surface day and night and allows for programmable light animations and soft light diffusion by the moss.

Participatory architecture & urban interaction

Mediacredits

iart – studio for media architectures

iart – studio for media architectures

iart – studio for media architectures

iart – studio for media architectures

iart – studio for media architectures