Language: Croatian no Subtitles

Nikola Znaor’s project offers a solution to energy-intensive cooling of buildings. In an interview on Croatian television program Eko zona (Eco-zone), he describes progress on his Air-Shade responsive and sustainable shading system, that is powered by air that is sensitive to solar exposure and uses no external energy source or sensors. Nikola Znaor points how winning a Next Generation prize in the world’s largest competition for sustainable design helped to finance the ongoing feasibility study for the project.

Video: Courtesy Eko zona – Hrvatska radiotelevizija (HRT).

Nikola Znaor, winner of a Next Generation prize in 2015, is the James Dyson Award 2016 winner for Austria. His project named Air-Shade is a responsive sustainable shading system powered by air that is sensitive to solar exposure with no need for any external energy source or sensors. The James Dyson Award recognizes the work of university students and recent graduates in the fields of product design, industrial design and engineering who respond to the challenge of “designing something that solves a problem”.

Cooling as a process is one of the biggest energy consumers in the building sector around the globe. The project Air-shade from the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, addresses this problem by proposing a shading system that is sensitive to solar exposure and powered by air – with no need of any external energy source. Insofar as that it can vary in scale, size, material, and form, the proposed device is applicable to a broad variety of buildings, constructions, façades, roofs, windows, etc.

Exposed to solar radiation, the air inside the umbrella-like units heats up and expands, allowing the armature to open. Conversely, when solar radiation diminishes the air cools down and the shutters close.

Read project feature in 4th Holcim Awards 2014/2015 (flip-book)

Nikola Znaor believes that sustainable construction needs to consider ecological, economic and social aspects and also keep in mind user comfort, aesthetics, and adaptability for future use. “Air-Shade: Responsive sustainable shading system, Vienna, Austria” is considered an ingenious approach to problem solving by the Holcim Awards jury.

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The winning projects of the Holcim Awards 2014 for Europe illustrate how sustainable construction continues to evolve – developing more sophisticated and multi-disciplinary responses to the challenges facing the building and construction industry. An ecological reserve and remediation project in Southern Italy, a low-cost flexible university building in Paris, and a participatory urban neighborhood in Vienna won gold, silver and bronze.

The jury commends the exploratory nature of the project and its ingenious approach to problem solving. Particularly appreciated is the simple transfer of a low-technology artifact – in this case, an umbrella – to create a high-technology apparatus to shade buildings. Architectural design is here deployed as a method to investigate new sustainable construction techniques. Most successful in this exercise are the doubly-curved façades that constantly transform according to the intensity of solar exposure.