Outdoor Thermal Testing of ZERAF’s with Kinetic Cladding Variants

A comprehensive experimental campaign on the full ZERAF system has been successfully concluded at Eurac Research’s outdoor laboratories —evaluating both the Kinetic Cladding alone and the complete facade system under real outdoor boundary conditions.

Why it matters:
These tests allowed us to observe the ZERAF façade’s thermal behavior under naturally fluctuating environmental conditions and controlled indoor environment. This cannot be fully replicated in an indoor laboratory and enabled our team to gather invaluable information on the systems’ thermal behaviour.

What we tested:
We evaluated three Kinetic Cladding variants, each with different materials, finishes, and geometries. This helped us to understand how these design choices influence on solar heat gains and convective airflow in the ventilated cavity.

What does this mean for architects:

Our goal is to empower architects to design the kinetic cladding based on their aesthetic vision, while understanding how those design choices affect the thermal performance of the ZERAF façade system.