| 摘要 |
A building (10) of generally spherical configuration has a lower portion and an upper portion and includes an outer skin (13) of first triangular panels and an inner skin (12) of second triangular panels. Substantially all of the panels are light-transmitting, and may be made of glass. Partitions extend from the lower to the upper portion of the building between the two skins and divide the inter-skin region into a plurality of sectors running from the lower to the upper portion of the building. Particulate insulative material (9) is provided, along with apparatus for selectively filling the sectors with insulative material by delivering insulative material to the upper ends thereof, and to selectively empty the sectors of insulative material by withdrawing insulative material from the bottom ends thereof. The building can be controlled in such a way as to allow open or empty sectors to track the sun in the winter, thus maximizing solar heating, and to face away from the sun in hot weather, thus minimizing overheating while allowing light entry. |
