The Klimasymmetry installation is an innovative design-research project consisting of radiant heating and cooling panels. Thermal qualities affect our daily lives, yet rarely do we think of temperature as an architectural material that can be used in design. The human-sized installation is designed according to the way the human body physiologically perceives temperature and how those perceptions can define a space surrounding the object, informing the geometry, topology, and location of each panel. The relationship between the body and location of heat source is critical because people do not feel thermal comfort evenly across different zones of their own body. According to physiological research, in a warm environment, we feel comfort most effectively when cooling is at our face while in a cool environment, we feel comfort when heat is at our abdomen. Thus, the physiological location determines the geometry of the heating and cooling panels.

The integration of thermal performance with a geometric ally adaptable surface requires a material and fabrication process capable of embedding these multiple behaviors. The prototype provides the opportunity to research the thermal properties of one of the most ubiquitous materials in the built interior environment, gypsum. When applied through a process of spraying with additives for strength, the plastic behavior of GFRG (glass fiber reinforced gypsum) allows the computational design of the surface topology to adapt to the thermal location according to the position on the viewer’s body. The fabrication technique for the gypsum radiant panels integrates digital fabrication with fabric forming techniques, developing a process that is scalable from small to large deployments of the system. The wood frame is accurately fabricated using CNC while the tensile fabric allows the material behavior to be expressed. The fabric wrapped frame creates the formwork for the GFRG to be sprayed into while also embedding the hydronic tubes in the panel composition in order to activate it as a radiant surface. The prototype is developed as series of radiant panels where the thermal behavior is embedded into the materiality of the surface, providing a method to test the interaction between people and the manufactured object. The main objective of this research project is revealing a non-visual thermal environment created by a low-energy architectural surface that integrates sculpture, architecture, engineering, physiology, and sustainability into a single experimental installation.