“Nantone” – Good things come in packages

In today’s day and age, cities are expanding, built environments are getting more demanding and with a deficit in natural resources, there is a greater significance being given to sustainable building practices. However, sustainability has been a term shrouded in severe confusion since its inception, primarily because of how it is perceived across sectors. While buildings are using sustainable materials, the processes involved in making those materials and utilizing them are still unsustainable. With such a stark difference in perception, the dilemma of understanding and developing alternatives and solutions for materials that would result in an overall sustainable model becomes all the more profound.

Over the period of a year, our studio has aimed at researching a prototype material that can be dual-purpose. A material that can be best suited for a particular application or, an application that is best suited for the particular material.

The basic principal of expansion of matter in different states got us thinking on more sustainable lines of how we can make a difference by implementing small systems that lead to bigger movement and actuation without any external energy flow. This system could be a small addition to a Skin, urban fabric or anything that requires movement, regulation or control. This system could work together with other facades and urban fabrics of a city to achieve benefits at both, the larger and smaller scale.

This project throws light onto applications that allow the utilization of multiple small amounts of energy to generate a greater force. It aims at converting natural heat energy with the help of pneumatic systems into a self-regulatory passive cooling system.
The research results in the development of urban skins that are influenced by the weather and that create swarm patterns that effectively serve a larger demographic purpose as and when needed.