Optimal design of an Origami-inspired kinetic façade by balancing composite motion optimization for improving daylight performance and energy efficiency

This article presents a novel concept for an Origami-inspired shading device based on dynamic daylight that can be used to improve the daylight performance of a target building and reduce the energy consumption for the building. The daylight performance is evaluated based on the Leed v4 (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) daylight criterion. The proposed shading device is experimented in an office located in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, where there is a tropical monsoon climate being hot and humid by the year. To investigate the effectiveness of the proposed design in acting as a sun shading system for the office, we consider eight cases corresponding to eight directions which are South, North, East, West, South-East, North-East, South-West, and North-West. An automatic simulation optimization procedure is developed by combining a daylight simulation tool called DIVA and an optimization method called Balancing Composite Motion Optimization (BCMO). BCMO is used to find the optimal design for the proposed kinetic shading device which will help the building to improve daylight performance. It must be noted that the proposed framework is not necessarily tied to any particular optimization tool or type of building. The results show that the proposed kinetic device has outstanding performance as it helps the building to achieve 2, 3 points in Leed v4 for four different directions, including North, North-East, South, North-West. •An automatic simulation-based optimization approach is investigated through BCMO and DIVA.•Two comparing designs are used to validate the effectiveness of the proposed design.•The proposed kinetic shading device helps building to achieve Leedv4 certification in four directions.•The proposed kinetic shading device could be used as a general sunshade solution in many design situations.•The proposed design could save energy of the building from 25% to 46%.