Larchmont Lotus
XP& Architecture designed a 15,000 SF sensor driven Shading System for the Larchmont Medical Center on Larchmont Boulevard in Los Angeles California.  The new envelope serves two design purposes at once: cooling of the building and image improvement of the medical center. As the sun moves throughout the day the façade adjust its metal leaves to regulate the internal temperature of the building. The user of the building can override the movement of the system if needed.
Shading Systems are one of the most effective energy saving passive design measures in Southern California. The building produces a lot of heat from all the equipment and the exterior wall surface which is exposed to the constant radiation of the sun. Instead of spending money for the mechanical cooling system the proposal suggests a onetime investment in secondary passive shading system that can react to different weather conditions and user preferences. Sensors installed inside and on the outside of the building measure the temperature and the metal cladding opens and closes accordingly.

The lotus leaf has the amazing property of self-cleaning through its superhydrophobic micro-nanostructured surfaces. The self-cleaning phenomenon was first discovered by Dettre and Johnson in 1964. In 1977 superhydrophobic micro-nanostructured surfaces were studied by Barthlott and Ehler. Today we have paints that perform in a similar way when applied to surfaces.
The metal shutter leaves are coated with Lotusan, which has proven to self clean its surface.