Addressing the Aesthetics of Building Electrification

Air source heat pumps are the most widely used technology for electrifying buildings, and unfortunately these systems are not invisible. These systems entail the addition of lots of �utilitarian� mechanical equipment and distribution lines (to use a euphemism) to the fa�ade and/or within habitable spaces. If the aesthetics of this equipment is not addressed, it could easily impede the uptake of electrification, since building owners and residents expect their buildings not just to function, but to be pleasant to see and inhabit.

This session will be a moderated panel of architects and industrial designers. The panel will present the aesthetic problems encountered in current electrification projects and discuss how the architectural and industrial design professions are addressing these issues and ways that they could go further. The panelists will present some design solutions for electrification, and some examples of how other emerging technologies have addressed aesthetic issues in the past.