The purpose of adaptive building skins is to actively moderate the influence of weather conditions on the building’s interior environment. Current adaptive skins rely on rigid body motions, complex hinges and actuation devices. These attributes are obstacles to their broader adoption in low-carbon buildings. This project explores these challenges and solutions. The core idea of soft adaptive skins is that they exploit the systems’ elasticity to respond to stimuli. However, designing such a skin is a challenging task due to the interaction between geometry, elasticity and environmental performance. The research tasks are to i) identify concept generators, ii) carry out numerical feasibility studies, and iii) improve environmental response through optimization . If successful, these skins will reduce energy consumption in the construction industry. However at the heart of our proposal is the exchange of people and ideas.