48 results

  • Academic Wood Tower Choreography

    With an ever-growing interest in mid- and high-rise mass timber construction, this paper highlights the insights and lessons learned across global ma…

  • Renewing Historic Facades featured image

    Renewing Historic Facades

    As the first phase of a $4 billion dollar, 180-acre, 60 building government preservation project in Washington DC, this case study reviews the envelo…

  • Doubling Mies featured image

    Doubling Mies

    Mies van der Rohe’s concurrently designed projects for Commonwealth Promenade Apartments (1953-1956) and the Esplanade Apartments (1953-1957), saw th…

  • Passive House Facade Design and Construction

    Buildings account for over 40% of global emissions (GlobalABC, 2018). Growing populations and higher standards of living are increasing pressure on t…

  • Shaping Skin

    The conventional modern facade is essentially flat, which creates the tendency toward visual monotony and problems for modulating daylight—both on th…

  • Optimized Adaptive Re-Use

    Contemporary building practice represents a disconnect between traditional manufacturing techniques, that favor straight runs and orthogonal geometri…

  • Balancing Visual Comfort and Energy Efficiency featured image

    Balancing Visual Comfort and Energy Efficiency

    With increasing interest in wellness and human-centric design in workplaces, the design of building enclosures is predicated on optimizing competing …

  • Carbon Lean Facades featured image

    Carbon Lean Facades

    With net zero and carbon neutral mandates on the near horizon, New York City has pushed the green building envelope by leveraging incentive-based pro…

  • Terra Cotta Skins

    This paper will address the potential of ornamental architectural terracotta surfaces to mitigate the effects of climate fluctuations that will creat…

  • Translation from Concept to Construction

    Fidelity between the built enclosure and early visualizations is rarely, if ever, an accident. When achieved, it comes as the result of persistent ef…

  • Designing with Photovoltaics featured image

    Designing with Photovoltaics

    Photovoltaics (PV) have been utilized in buildings for decades, especially in Europe where legislative support has largely driven the market. With ne…

  • Infinite Panel System featured image

    Infinite Panel System

    Today, building facades are expected to do much more than merely provide shelter, which is driving the need for higher performing envelope solutions.…

  • Performance-based Facade Framework

    Buildings have a considerable impact on the environment, and it is crucial to consider environmental and energy performance in building design. Build…

  • U-Factor Matters in Hot Climates featured image

    U-Factor Matters in Hot Climates

    It is commonly thought that fenestration U-factor is not a key determinant in the performance of facades in hot climates, and generally the focus of …

  • Sustainable Silicone featured image

    Sustainable Silicone

    Silicone materials have a long history in high performance building projects. Known for durability, they can reduce a building’s carbon footprint by …

  • The First Triple Certified Facade featured image

    The First Triple Certified Facade

    Johnson Controls (JCI), a leading provider of intelligent building technology solicited the design of a 35,000sm headquarters for its Asia-Pacific Re…

  • Adaptable Glazing Shields

    Today, about 40% of all buildings in the U.S. still have single-pane windows, and ~70% of the existing building stock is estimated to suffer from und…

  • DC Water Headquarters Case Study featured image

    DC Water Headquarters Case Study

    Facades must be responsive to a myriad of qualities and influences ranging from urban impact and aesthetic character to numerous performance requirem…

  • Curved Forming Panel Facades

    The performative and visual aspects of curved forming/bending thin “formable” planar materials is explored. Early tests for deflection indicate that …

  • A Compact, Unitized Double Skin Facade featured image

    A Compact, Unitized Double Skin Facade

    Driven by an increasing demand for high thermal and acoustic performance, transparency, and low maintenance costs, a number of facade innovations hav…