Thermochromic Topologies Integration of non-visual design parameters into generative design processes and the communication of invisible parameters of thermal comfort via embedded material performance in responsive architectural elements. With increasing awareness of our environmental responsibilities, architects must seek out alternative solutions to mechanical heating and cooling where possible. The resulting shift in paradigm - from a demand of a homogeneously tempered indoor environment to a heterogeneous field of varying comfort zones – requires new design tools to actively communicate qualities of space. Most thermal comfort parameters are invisible and hard to communicate across distances. This research aims to find solutions for this dilemma while exploring it from the architect’s position. Sustainability, passive environmental strategies and ecological thinking are embraced creatively and innovatively. This pushes the boundaries of design thinking as well as finding new digital fabrication and design methodologies to generate intricate and sustainable ornament. Thermochromic materials change colour when the material’s temperature exceeds a certain threshold. The effect can be a change in hue, saturation or transparency. The project focused on a change of transparency, where the disappearance of a coating layer reveals the underlying material above a temperature threshold of 27C – the same temperature above which a […]