Sustainability through Light: A Contemporary Approach to Articulate Design and Technology

This paper describes the concept, design and development process of an interactive and immersive exhibition on state-of-the-art façade technologies for advanced daylighting control. Its aim is to propose an effective, informative and interactive experience that increases the awareness and understanding of designers and the general public about advanced daylighting strategies. This exhibition will focus on revealing their performance while emphasizing their key role in integrating sustainability in architecture. It will use tactic installations of these materials and assemblies to get architects to explore the fascinating spatial design opportunities enabled by their capabilities to control daylight and solar radiation. Visitors will interact with these technologies by walking through the space and getting to understand the basic principles of daylighting and the potential of these technologies through custom installations and case studies, using digital and analog media. The exhibition presents an opportunity to use a real space as a case study and a laboratory for new applications of these materials. The ultimate goal of this research project is to serve as an efficient didactic instrument to connect design, technology and industry at national and international levels.