Bucky Lab Cooling Solutions – Project 7/16
What if a building could bloom like a flower to protect itself from the sun?
For the seventh project in our Bucky Lab series, we introduce BLOOM, an innovative façade concept inspired by the adaptability and beauty of flowers. Developed as part of the challenge to reduce overheating in modular accommodation units at the COA reception centre in Zeist, the project combines passive cooling, adaptable shading, and architectural expression.
A façade inspired by nature
Flowers respond to their environment by opening, closing, and adjusting their petals. BLOOM translates this natural principle into a modular façade system that combines static and kinetic elements.
The static modules create a recognizable architectural identity while reducing solar heat gain. The kinetic modules can be manually adjusted, transforming from individual petals into hexagonal flower-like shapes. Depending on their position, they provide different degrees of shading while continuously changing the appearance of the building.
From petals to prototypes
The student team explored how the flower-inspired geometry could become a functional façade component. Through physical models, detailed technical drawings, and mechanical studies, they investigated the transformation of the petals and the connections required to operate them.
A particularly interesting aspect is the development of a mechanical system that allows the petals to move between different opening positions. The 1:2 scale prototype demonstrates how the individual elements can unfold and create a dynamic shading surface.
The combination of fixed and movable modules also offers the possibility of adapting the façade to different orientations, user preferences, and environmental conditions.
Cooling with a human touch
BLOOM is more than a shading system. Its design also considers the experience of the building’s occupants.
By allowing residents to interact with the kinetic elements, the façade introduces a sense of personal control over their immediate environment. At the same time, the changing flower patterns give the otherwise repetitive modular accommodation units a distinctive and welcoming appearance.
The project demonstrates how biomimicry, mechanical innovation, and architectural design can come together to explore new approaches to passive cooling.
BLOOM shows that a façade can do more than protect a building from the sun – it can respond, transform, and quite literally bloom.
The Bucky Lab team
Students: Umut Ekin Özyurt, Lanko Nishikawa, Harim Kang, İpek Topalkara, Nurettin Kutalp Neng.
Supervisors: Dr.-Ing. Marcel Bilow, Ir. Nadia Remmerswaal, Ir. Ate Snijder, Ir. Govert Flint.
Developed at Bucky Lab, TU Delft, as part of the cooling challenge for modular accommodation units at AZC Zeist, in the context of the EU-funded AMIF project.
Stay tuned for Project 8/16, featuring another creative approach to improving the comfort and sustainability of modular buildings.
