Seeking to address the challenges posed by extreme heat and prolonged sun exposure in urban environments, KPF’s design, Computation, and Environmental Performance teams designed a trellis that continuously adapts throughout the day in response to weather data, sun angle analysis, and thermal intensity.
Dubbed Track, the system works as a component for public realm design that makes cities suffering from extreme heat more livable while simultaneously fostering a high degree of exterior connectivity along city streets. As Jeff Kenoff, KPF Design Principal and lead of the collaborative effort, remarks, Track ensures that “the circulation paths below evolve in real time, providing a shaded route at any given moment while allowing light to softly dapple along the edges.” Christina X. Brown of the KPF Environmental Performance team notes that “with growing concerns of extreme heat, designing year-round thermal comfort through passive strategies becomes even more crucial.” Conventional trellis systems are often static, offering limited utility by providing shade only during specific times of the day or certain seasons. For Track, “we analyzed the sun angle and intensity for every hour of the year to develop a temporal approach for comprehensively designing for outdoor comfort,” explains Luc Wilson, KPF Global Director of Design Technology.
The ideal public space has enough shade to be comfortable, but enough light to be inviting. Striking that optimal balance was the central goal of Track. Madeleine Eggers, a member of the KPF Computation team, elaborates that “rather than kinetically tracking the sun position, the trellis is stationary. As the sun moves, local variations in the trellis cast shifting shadows that create transient shaded paths, offering a comfortable and ever-changing route throughout the day.” KPF’s mission of elevating cities through impactful design necessitates architectural thinking that addresses climate change beyond a building’s footprint. As Carlos Cerezo Davila, KPF Global Director of Sustainability, notes, “Track’s trellis helps create a bespoke urban microclimate that protects the site from extreme heat events while offering visitors a rich and diverse urban experience.”
Read more about KPF Computation here and KPF Environmental Performance here.