rethinking design - Spatial Design@Massey

ethinking designFrom the research gathered, one of the main ideas that I have taken frombiomimicry and energy generation is that in nature, each individual specieshas their own way of obtaining energy. As humans we rely on one or twovery large systems that power our area of living, when these are down dueto technical faults etc, we have no power. This would mean implementingdifferent systems that power different needs.SUNFLOWERThe sunflower has been known for many years as the plant that tracks thesuns movement. At sunrise, the faces of most sunflowers are turnedtowards the east. Over the course of the day, they follow the sun from eastto west, while at night they return to an eastward orientation. This motion isperformed by motor cells in the pulvinus, a flexible segment of the stem justbelow the bud. As the bud stage ends, the stem stiffens and the bloomingstage is reached.As a design implementation, we can mimic the way that the sunflower tracksthe sun, to achieve the maximum harvesting of the sun. However as a designaesthetic, no one wants their whole house to be covered in solar panels.Basically situated around the house are ʻseed facadesʼ, walls attached to theexterior of the building with slits cut into them. As the sun moves around thehouse, a sliding wall hidden behind the ʻseed façadeʼ pushes forwardsallowing hundreds of solar panels to literally begin to bloom and begin toharvest the suns energy. As the sun moves over the house, these panelswill respond, opening and closing during the day. During bad weather thepanels are able to be protected reducing maintenance, and due to themodule design, when it comes to replacing or fixing a piece, it will meanonly a small job not a complete overhaul.The panels will be designed with the same techniques as the SMIT GROWIvy leaves, reducing waste with reusing the left over or recycled materials