Central Saint Martins graduate Saima Fateh has designed a system of automatically closing window blinds that shade the interior when it gets too hot and change colour to signal dangerous levels of UV radiation.
Fateh developed the TranSense Screens as part of her final-year studies on the MA Industrial Design programme at the University of the Arts London's Central Saint Martins art school.
Designed for hot regions, the screens use smart materials to sense shifts in temperatures and limit the amount of sunlight entering a room without requiring an electricity supply.
The louvres close when the temperature reaches a certain level
A spring made from a shape-memory alloy called nitinol is activated when the temperature rises to a certain level, prompting the vertical louvres to rotate to the closed position. Photochromic pigments applied to the external surface of the acrylic panels change colour from white to orange to emphasise the invisible threat of solar radiation.
"The design addresses the emotional cost of disconnecting from the natural elements during extreme weather conditions," said the designer, who grew up in Udaipur, India, where summer temperatures can exceed 40 degrees Celsius.
Saima Fateh created a mechanical design for the screens
Fateh chose to employ mechanical, rather than electrical, sensors to activate the blinds to also save on energy use.
The active component in the screen is a single nitinol compression spring fitted within the frame. At cool...