Australian architecture practice BVN and the University of Technology Sydney have created a low-carbon, 3D-printed system that "breathes" like frog skin.
Named Systems Reef 2, the invention was made of recycled plastic 3D printed into a computationally optimised design that BVN said has 90 per cent less embodied carbon than a standard air-conditioning system.
The system also uses less operational energy because the air flows more easily around the organically shaped, branching tubing, with no corners to get stuck in.
Systems Reef 2 is a reimagined system of air conditioning with an optimised design
The invention was designed to tackle the many deficiencies the architecture studio identified with air conditioning, a technology that BVN co-CEO Ninotschka Titchkosky describes as not having changed much since its invention in the early 1900s and having been "largely designed for manufacturing processes as opposed to human comfort". Air conditioning systems are typically made from steel sheets, which the BVN and UTS team's analysis showed results in high embodied carbon and the use of much more material than is necessary. The systems also waste energy because they are structurally inefficient and difficult to change after installation.
"At the moment, the systems that we have, they're really inflexible, they're not particularly great for human comfort, they're really expensive to change and they really limit the way we want to occupy buildings now in th...