The Adaptive Building Initiative: The Functional Aesthetic of Adaptivity

Ziggy Drozdowski, Director of Technology at Hoberman Associates in New York, describes the Adaptive Building Initiative (ABI), a collaboration with engineers Buro Happold that is conceived to catalyse innovation in environmental building performance. The emphasis here is on developing technologies that both architects and engineers can engage with rather than products per se, ensuring that ‘the design and the technology layers employed are intertwined into one dynamic system’. This is exemplified by the initiative's development of the Tessellate™ adaptive facade system that both interacts with and helps control incident sunlight. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.