A Review of the Eva – Project: Evaluation of Visonary Architectural Concepts in View of Building Performance

Abstract

This paper reports on the EVA-project, which was collaboratively conducted by the University of Applied Arts (Energy Design) and the TU Wien (Dept. of Building Physics and Building Ecology). This project focused on the assessment of a number of innovative architectural concepts in the field of energy-efficient architecture. Whereas a large number of building projects focuses on adding thermal insulation and rather rely on the performance of mass products like insulation panels, a by far smaller number of projects try to explore other ways of improving building performance, such as adaptive, moveable, or performance-shifting envelope element. Such architectural concepts often experience contra-arguments, such as the high risk of failure due to childhood diseases in the planning, the fear of increased cost and less-than-expected impact, or even invective as architect's fantasies. However, the track of innovation often has to cross rickety bridges to be accepted by the AEC (architecture-engineering-construction) domain. Toward this end, the EVA project provides two contributions: On the one hand, a structured evaluation database has been developed, in which "innovative architectural concepts" can be stored and queried regarding their key features. On the other hand, one innovative approach has been chosen, constructed and implemented in an existing building's envelope. The paper illustrates the idea, the principle construction, and the performance impact of this realization, which was pertaining to radiative heating and cooling achieved by adjustable distribution of thermal mass through indoor panels that were linked to outdoor façade elements.