ENERGY DESIGN

Óra — Light, Time, and the Market

Authors

Melika Hadjarzadeh

Studio

Sam Jacob.s Studio / University of Applied Arts Vienna

Supervisors

Sam Jacob, Bernhard Sommer, Galo Patricio

Óra investigates daylight as a primary organizational force in spatial design. The project challenges the conventional understanding of a market as a fixed commercial typology by proposing a time-responsive civic framework in which spatial use and atmosphere evolve throughout the day. Rather than prioritizing static program, Óra positions environmental performance — specifically daylight — as the main driver of architectural decision-making.

The project is structured around the idea that daily cycles of light produce different social and spatial conditions. Through daylight analysis, the plan is organized to align programmatic functions with varying levels of solar exposure. Areas receiving higher levels of daylight are allocated to active and transient uses such as market trading and food-related programs, while spaces with controlled or diffuse light support longer-duration activities including social gathering, workshops, and community use.

A system of sun-aligned skylights reinforces time as a spatial parameter, linking environmental performance with programmatic distribution and spatial identity. The project proposes a market environment in which light does not simply illuminate space, but actively shapes occupation, rhythm, and the experience of civic life.

Credits

Project by Melika Hadjarzadeh

Sam Jacob.s Studio / University of Applied Arts Vienna

Photo credits

Melika_HADJARZADEH_Universitaet_fuer_angewandte_Kunst_Wien_WiSe_25-26_Lea_Sonderegger_CC-BY-NC-ND

BIOCOOL — Measurement Apparatus, Fabrication Moulds, and Prototype Evaluation

Authors

B. Sommer, U. Pont, M. Sommer-Nawara, D. Minovski, M. Schuss, S. Zaitseva

This image sequence documents an integrated phase of the BIOCOOL research project, bringing together fabrication, physical prototyping, and experimental evaluation. The images show how computationally developed ceramic geometries were translated into CNC-milled moulds, reproduced as cast components, and tested through a custom-built measurement apparatus. The sequence connects several key parts of the research workflow: the production of precise mould geometries, the material articulation of ceramic prototype surfaces, and the comparative evaluation of different samples under controlled testing conditions. Together, these images reflect the project’s broader interest in linking digital design, fabrication logic, and environmental performance. By combining mould production, prototype development, and sensor-based testing in one workflow, BIOCOOL investigates how bio-inspired ceramic envelope systems can move beyond formal exploration and operate as measurable, climate-responsive building components.

Credits

BIOCOOL — From Simulation to Prototype

Authors B. Sommer, U. Pont, M. Sommer-Nawara, D. Minovski, M. Schuss, S. Zaitseva

This image sequence documents part of the design and testing workflow developed within the BIOCOOL research project. The study investigates how bio-inspired ceramic surface systems can be designed, simulated, and fabricated to support evaporative cooling in building envelopes. Starting from a simple base geometry, the project explores how local form, height, spacing, and repetition influence surface behavior and environmental performance. Parametric tools were used to generate and refine different geometries, while simulation-based studies helped evaluate how individual elements and aggregated surface systems perform under varying conditions. The images show the relationship between geometric setup, computational workflow, local performance mapping, and material testing. This progression from digital model to physical sample reflects the broader ambition of BIOCOOL: to develop climate-responsive ceramic envelope components that operate as active environmental interfaces within building water and energy systems.

A second part of the sequence focuses on the transition from digital development to ceramic prototyping through an iterative fabrication process. The images document key stages in this transition, including CNC-based mould production, material casting, firing, and the assembly of repeated surface elements. This phase of the research was essential for evaluating the relationship between geometry, material behavior, and environmental performance. By producing and observing real prototypes, the project tested how bio-inspired ceramic morphologies could operate as climate-responsive façade components beyond the digital model.

Title

BIOCOOL

Authors

B. Sommer, U. Pont, M. Sommer-Nawara, D. Minovski, M. Schuss, S. Zaitseva

These ceramic prototypes are part of the BIOCOOL research project, which investigates bio-inspired surface systems for evaporative cooling in building envelopes.

Based on the study of plant morphologies and passive cooling principles, the project explores how textured ceramic components can enhance the environmental performance of façades.

By framing the façade as an active mediator within water and energy systems, BIOCOOL proposes new material and geometric strategies for climate-responsive design.

Credits

BIOCOOL research project / Energy Design Department

Heat reduction through multi-layered monolithic sand artefacts

Oliver Thomas Hamedinger / Jade Bailey

The researched-led proposal introduces a new architectural building asset, that endeavours to create a seamless bridge between the internal and external—reinterpreting the plan so that building skins cease to be mere physical barriers.Instead, they become dynamic interfaces, connectors of spatial realms endorsed through bio-integrated design and specific climate analysis. The interior becomes a tactile interface that not only visually corresponds to its exterior but works in synergy with it. The notion is to embrace the multiplicity and heterogeneity of surfaces, to uncover the potential of functional ornamentation and its utilitarian and climatic regulating possibilities. Compact into a computationally designed and process driven asset that aims to challenge the current building industry and provide a solution to the impending climate crisis through materiality and intentionality

Miriam Löscher

nowadays we deal with high levels of stress, which our bodies have struggle dealing with on their own. or at least me. the stress concentrates in the stomach, causing constant tension in the muscles resulting in overall distress and disables proper muscle movement during breathing.

therefore i decided to create a gadget which would monitor heartrate and react to exceptions from normal relaxation status by inflating and thereby turning one ́ s focus to breathe consciously, with the help of the gadget creating external pressures into different parts of body at a cycle.

Konstantin Kim, Leonard Kern , Julian Heinen

We are located at the threshold of a new reality, an era of clear hyper interdependence and planetary scale computational capabilities mixed together with uncertainties of anthropocene and approaching scarcity of resources. Can technical ingenuities evoke in us a new understanding of the milieu and playfully help us overcome the growing sense of futility?

CO2 in a scale of a single room is measured by sensors, data is then sent to the machine, which represents it in a Cartesian coordinate system with planting seeds into hydroponic system and ensuring their growth, keeping water levels intact with a reacting watering apparatus.

Temporary adjusted for measuring interior spaces, each time a level of CO2 is crossing 600 ppm (complaints of stiffness and odours), the machine plants a batch of seeds within a stripe. Each stripe of hydroculture is a day’s worth data and each water basin contains two weeks of CO2 measurements.

Over time the planted bar grows, representing its CO2 content. Day by day, a grown CO2 graph is created visualising the measure air quality.

Ahmad Alexander, Boeck Adriana, Chehri Kaveh

CONCEPT

Sound that occurs in the exhibition space as well as in the outdoor space is constantly changing regarding to the amount of people, the occasion, car noise and so on. To visualize these changes, 3-dimensional objects will be digitally added into the space as a surface with various control points depending on the sound data. Additional colours could either emphasize the different volumes or mark various pitches in the room. Since sound can be a fast changing variabel, the live feed shows the space in a permanent changing mode. People can influence the geometry, hence can be a part of the art.

A further development could be a more interactive setting using phones or tablets as a tool for an augmented reality. With an app that uses the camera of the device the visualised geometry could be implemented directly into the room from the exact perspective of the user.

madeleine malle, anders krogh, sophie hartmann

The sound waves people emit translate into wires and create a new language of waves. A choreography of multiple noises develops. Capturing the sound with a sensor, five wires display, low to high frequency through movement. Translated into motion, the intensity of the sound affects the speed of the wires rotation and the appearance of the curves. The installation detects the presence of local noise and displays it visible manner.

VisibleTouch

Andrej Strieženec, Angel Yonchev, Kieran Tait

By

Jan Kováříček, Juliette Valat, Mira Suradi

CONCEPT

Carbon as the basis of complex organisms: Organic spheres should seem alive, as something that breathes and moves. Those spheres visualize the amount of CO2 indoors, in the yard and outside the exhibition hall. Indoors it is in a way interactive (breathe of the visitors.) The color sheme should be a link to the thermal image – CO2 as part of green- house effect. This should take place on a screen (spheres as 3D objects).

EVA Evaluation of Visionary Architecture Prove of Concepts, Innovative building concepts for their feasibility by monitoring and evaluating mock-ups.

Evaluierung Visionärer Architekturkonzepte Prüfung bauphysikalisch und energetisch innovative Gebäudekonzepte auf ihre Machbarkeit unter Monitoring und Evaluierung eines Mock-Ups

Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien Benhard Sommer Galo Moncayo-Asan Afshin Koupaei

TU Wien: Technische Universität Wien Ulrich Pont

As climate and society changes it might not be the smartest way to customize buildings towards local weather conditions and usage patterns that might be obsolete within a few decades anyway.

At least one alternative could be to design a super-adaptive building skin, which can negotiate any indoor-outdoor differences.

In „Ecologic Balett“, students accepted the challenge to design  an interactive skin that has the ability to sense outside and inside conditions.

The behaviour of the skin can be programmed to achieve the desired climatic goals for a specific usage pattern.

Transformability should affect the skin design as well as the building geometry.