The Adaptable Insulation Curtain works to increase the R-value in new and old buildings or homes. It is light weight, easy to install, and inflates in less than 5 minutes. It provides protection from the heat in summer months and helps to retain heat in colder winter months. Finally, it allows the inhabitants complete control over their interior environment with regard to insulation.
This project explores the idea of transitioning the location of insulation from within the enclosed spaces of the walls of the house, separating it from the structure and bringing it into the interior of the house. Exposing the insulation barrier on the inside of the home not only makes insulation part of the interior space visually, but physically as well. In this way the insulation becomes easy to access and invites the possibility of addressing each room in the home individually, depending on its programmatic use.
Inspiration Inspiration to create adaptable insulation came from the desire to address our high-energy-use lifestyles and to provide a solution that can be retrofitted into older buildings and homes with single pane windows or integrated into the design of new homes and buildings, where, for example, it could be used to respond to the heat loss resulting from the extensive floor to ceiling glazing being used in new condominiums. The Adaptable Curtain considers how insulation can be efficiently implemented in the home, while concurrently addressing its typical static quality. Several questions were asked: How can insulation become more dynamic? How can insulation begin to respond to the environment inside and outside the home? Finally, how can insulation react to the activities taking place in different areas of the home?
Development
The curtain prototype is fabricated using aluminized Mylar. The design calls for multiple aluminized Mylar pillows attached together. Each pillow is connected by polyethylene tubing to a centralized air pump and fitted with two-way valves. This enables the curtain to be inflated for use and deflated when not in use. The curtain responds to the exterior temperature and interior temperature, giving the inhabitants control over their environment. The Inflatable Curtain has multiple functions: it simultaneously acts to insulate, mediate privacy and control light. The idea of laminating 1mm thick photovoltaic panels onto the surface of each Mylar pillow was also considered. This would allow the energy used to inflate the curtain to be offset by the energy absorbed and stored by the curtain. A video of the curtain being inflated can be seen here.
University of Toronto, Daniels Architecture, Landscape & Design, 2011.
Adaptable Insulation Curtain Part II
Part II of the Adaptable Insulation Curtain involved fabricating a second prototype, which similar to the first prototype consisted of individual cells. However, this time the curtain was constructed from one continuous piece of polyethylene tubing formed into 6" globular cells. Each cell has a clear latex balloon attached to a two-way valve, which in turn is connected to the central matrix of the system.Thus, the infrastructure becomes the structure, eliminating the need for two separate systems. The balloon curtain has multiple functions: it simultaneously acts to insulate, mediate privacy and control light. 2010
