Smart Materials and Sustainability

The next generation of sustainable buildings will have to be radically different from those of today and will be designed using new approaches to materials that are expressed in this study. Smart materials are one of the components for these new approaches. These new materials, which are integrated with the environment, produce renewable energies, maintain themselves, minimize energy consumption and/or maximize the usage of natural light. The contribution of smart materials in architecture gives architects the opportunity of designing smart buildings with lightweight structures and new building elements that react to environmental conditions. The increasing interaction with the environment also leads architects to the following question: Can these material properties be used for supporting the sustainability of the building? The increase in interaction with the environment could ensure that buildings are more compatible with their surroundings. This compatibility could support ecologically sustainable environments and this is the main idea that this study deals with. The aim of this study is to propose and question the application of smart materials in sustainable architecture.