World’s largest real concrete building 3D printed by GUtech University

Efficient sun shading strategies are important to protect building interiors from direct sunlight and overheating in view of climate change. Against this background, the ADAPTEX research project explores textile adaptive solar shading elements that can open and close autonomously in response to changing temperatures. Two different design concepts have been developed: ADAPTEX Wave is based on the deformation of textile strips, while in the Mesh design, two textile layers are differently superimposed to open or close the structure. In each case, the opening mechanism is enabled by the integration smart materials, in particular shape memory alloys (SMA).

After the functional principle has already been proven by the development and testing of ADAPTEX Wave and Mesh prototypes, the system will now be further investigated in actual application. Muscat in Oman, with its particularly high temperatures, offers an ideal climate for studying the system’s behavior under extreme conditions. Therefore, in August 2022, the ADAPTEX project team came to GUtech in Muscat with representatives from Weißensee Kunsthochschule Berlin (KHB), Priedemann Fassadenberatung GmbH and Carl Stahl ARC GmbH to install the solar shading system on the university’s ECO House. A decentralized sensor network is part of this installation, sending data over the cloud for long term monitoring, revealing how the system behaves during operation. Project partners are Verseidag-Indutex GmbH and i-Mesh | Customizable Textile for Architecture & Design, whom we also thank very much for their support and cooperation along the way. The project is funded by BMBF Zwanzig20 within the innovation network smarthoch3.