Parasitic Technologies

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PARASITIC TECHNOLOGIES_ building facade design using piezoelectric technologies to harvest wind energy TEAM MEMBERS Professor Margaret Kirk, Lead Researcher Jennifer Mahan, Architecture Student and Research Assistant roles_ array design, fabrication, device testing Liam Chaffey, Mechanical Engineering Student and Research Assistant roles_materials research, formal generation, array design Christian Aguirre, Electrical Engineering Student and Research Assistant roles_ device testing, material research, electronics management Raul Garcia, Electrical Engineering Student and Research Assistant roles_ device testing, material research, electronics management

ABSTRACT This project addresses the challenges of designing energy-producing faรงade systems using responsive materials. It intendsto explore the implementation of additive technologies upon existing urban infrastructure in order to exploit the resources of cities, such as the stack effect from the city grid, in order to make a more towards sustainability. Arrays of wind technologies would allow greater surface area to be covered, making the vertical surfaces of cities viable collectors of resources and feed back into the city infrastructure. Presented is a series of iterations testing energy production using different electric generators. These generators are intended to attach onto existing building facades and link into an array to create a secondary facade system which would collect wind energy produced in high-density urban areas to help power the building they are affixed to. The tests and their results are discussed, as well as the overall intentions to intended to question the role of sustainable technologies within the urban fabric.

1_ INTRODUCTION This project is intended to redefine the role of the facade as a working element and change the experiences from the street level. This calls to question the role of design and how it pertains to sustainability and the incorportation of applied elements into our experience of space and its affect on place. It makes sustainability a three-dimensional consideration. Design is the power to build our experience, so how can we do that with applied sustainable technologies and make them integraphto that experiencethrough design? 1.1_ WIND ENERGY Turbulent flow is the irregular fluctuation of water, air, or some fluid, wherein the speed of the fluid at a point is continuously undergoing changes in both magnitude and direction. Tall structures in high-density urban areas disrupt the otherwise laminar flow of prevailing winds in the area, creating turbulence. These patterns prove advantageous for capturing wind energy in these high-density urban areas. Types of turbulence built up around structures are as follows:


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