Many glass-fronted office buildings are energy intensive, requiring extensive heating in winter and cooling in summer to ensure comfortable temperatures for the building's occupants.

In response to this challenge researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools and Forming Technology IWU in Dresden teamed up with the Department of Textile and Surface Design at Weissensee School of Art in Berlin to find a smart solution to this problem.

They have created a thermally reactive blind made up of individual fabric components shaped like flowers. Each component contains an integrated shape-memory actuator made of a nickel-titanium alloy that returns to its original shape when exposed to heat. When the wires are warmed by sunlight they contract to open the textile components, covering the facade and preventing solar gains. When the sun disappears the flowers close and the facade becomes transparent once again.

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