الفهرس 
IntroductionOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
According to the 2007 Buildings Energy Data Book, administrative buildings come in the second place of energy consumption after retails and shopping malls, and 60% of the total consumed energy is accounted for space heating and cooling. Therefore, the usage of smart materials to design low cost, low tech architectural skins will have a great impact on decreasing the energy consumption of existing administrative buildings not only the new ones which will have a greater impact on the environment.
According to recent studies, the utilization of adaptive architectural skins can result in a substantial decrease in the consumption of energy. This is due to the fact that building skins are considered to be a crucial interface between the external and internal environments and are primarily responsible for regulating energy usage within buildings while maintaining optimal internal comfort levels. The field of architecture is currently witnessing a surge in research pertaining to smart materials that possess inherent properties that exhibit variation in response to distinct inputs or operating scenarios that are specific to the material. As sensors and actuators are integrated into their system, they become capable of detecting a stimulus, executing a deliberate action, and reverting to their initial condition upon stimulus removal.
Accordingly, the main aim of the research is to Explore the effectiveness of using the shape-changing materials in the administrative building skins in Egypt and its effect on the energy consumption of the building. The thesis also examines biomimicry as a concept to design shape-morphing skin to be implemented in administrative buildings facades in Cairo, Egypt clear sky with hot arid climate.
This thesis consists of Four chapters ending with conclusions and recommendations. Chapter one introduced the biomimetic architecture philosophy and its design strategies, framework adopted to implement the biomimicry strategies in the design of the shape-morphing skin. Chapter two reviewing data administrative buildings and its energy consumption levels, adaptive facades and it’s motion types. Chapter three reviewing smart materials and its types, properties and applications, then Analyzing previous attempts to choose the most suitable material to be used in the design of the building skin, after that, an energy simulation was made to compare the levels of energy consumption before and after applying the new proposed shape morphing skin.
The proposed bio-based shape-morphing skin showed a great improvement in the performance of the selected case study building minimizing the energy consumption of the building by 17%, and the annual cooling loads by 42%.