Deliberations on future applications

The overview of the survey in Australia indicated challenges for textiles becoming a mainstream building material. The issues related to operational energy were dealt with by providing general guidelines to be considered 

75 Proposed solar chimney for the RMIT (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology), Melbourne, Australia (a) solar wall (b) heat sink (Hoe, 2009). 

The last three sub-sections on textile applications showed three examples from nature and compared these with three international buildings and three projects from Australia and New Zealand with regard to their ability to alter the solar, heat and air transmission into the building. 

The principle behind thermal resistance can be called building up air cavities . Cushions are cavities in themselves and the more layers, the more cavities, the better the U-value. Materials such as mesh can also be used, although its holes influence the heat transmission. Two movable layers behind each other could open or close, thus influencing the heat transmission according to the internal needs of the building. 

Natural ventilation is airflow that can be induced either by solar radiation or through openings in combination with the built form. Examples showed that outlet or inlet elements can be made of foils and solar chimneys can be covered with larger-scale cushions. The variable transmission through a second printed foil within a three-layer component can even regulate the temperature inside by changing the solar transmission. 

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