ENHANCING SUSTAINABILITY THROUGH SMART MATERIALS INTEGRATION IN CONTEMPORARY ARCHITECTURE AND INTERIOR DESIGN

Ar. Neelam Arif; Sobia Mishal; Prof. Muhammad Nasir Chaudary

Authors

Ar. Neelam Arif
Sobia Mishal
Prof. Muhammad Nasir Chaudary

Abstract

With a growing concern among people these days on sustainability and its need in the present times, it has become crucial in this field of architecture and interior design. To address this, the incorporation of smart materials has become a novel approach toward both improving buildings' functioning and minimizing ecological footprint. Smart materials can respond to environmental conditions like temperature, light, humidity and pressure, for example with electrochromic glazing, phase-change materials, shape-memory alloys and responsive façade systems. By applying this adaptive behavior, energy efficiency, thermal comfort and environmental reactivity are enhanced in architecture and interior. The study discusses the role of smart materials in the perspective of improving sustainability in the built environment, its contribution towards energy saving, passive control of environmental parameters and comfort of the occupants. It also discusses the work performed on using smart materials together with computational design concepts, passive design concepts and digital technologies to deliver high performance and climate responsive buildings. Additionally, the study points to the possibility of the use of SM for minimizing the use of mechanized systems, decrease the operational energy demand, prolonging building lifecycle performance. Even though they have great benefits, the introduction of smart materials is still limited by their high costs, technical complexity, and absence of standards of introducing them. The study thus highlights the significance of having a more interdisciplinary approach and technological development to allow for wider use. In summary, the use of smart materials is an intriguing advancement in the direction of sustainable, adjusting and energy saving interior and architecture designs.

Keywords:

Smart materials; Sustainable architecture; Interior design and decoration; Energy efficiency; Adaptive building envelopes; Environmental performance; Net Zero energy buildings; Computational design; Biomimetic architecture; IoT in smart interiors; Passive design strategies; Building sustainability.