61 results

  • Climate-Oriented Prefabricated Building Envelopes featured image

    Climate-Oriented Prefabricated Building Envelopes

    Facades developed in response to climactic factors increase performance and human comfort while reducing energy loads. A single building envelope wil…

  • 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 …

  • European Facade Networks featured image

    European Facade Networks

    The European climate and energy targets for 2020 demand significant improvement of the energy performance of buildings since one third of the end-use…

  • Green Façade/Roofs Design Tool featured image

    Green Façade/Roofs Design Tool

    Climate change and related thermal issues, draw attention to the impact of green facades and roofs on energy savings and thermal comfort. Besides, by…

  • Contextualizing Glass and Carbon Impacts

    Climate change goals will require significant improvements in the way buildings are constructed and operated. Building reuse can combat climate chang…

  • Rammed Earth & Wildfire featured image

    Rammed Earth & Wildfire

    California is set to be drier and more drought prone with climate change. Wildfire and the subsequent loss of life and housing is a huge challenge. C…

  • Terra Cotta Skins featured image

    Terra Cotta Skins

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

  • Build Test Iterate Repeat featured image

    Build Test Iterate Repeat

    The global increase in atmospheric temperature rise combined with the rapid growth of previously underdeveloped climate zones presents a growing need…

  • HydroSKIN featured image

    HydroSKIN

    Building envelopes cover a considerable part of the urban exterior surfaces, and to therefore have a significant leverage effect on the climate resil…

  • Rethinking Building Skins

    Building skins play a pivotal role in architecture. Other than the aesthetical and architectural aspects, facades are key to the climate performance,…

  • Active and Energy Autonomous Window featured image

    Active and Energy Autonomous Window

    Reducing GHG emissions related to energy use in buildings is a prominent obligation given their impact in terms of climate change. In this light, ene…

  • Performance of Compact, Closed Cavity, Double-skin Curtain Wall featured image

    Performance of Compact, Closed Cavity, Double-skin Curtain Wall

    A proposed design for a compact, closed cavity, double-skin curtain wall system in the Marine climate of the West Coast raises questions of potential…

  • Sustainable Façades

    Transposing innovation from government funded research to commercially viable solutions becomes ever more important when combined with the urgent nee…

  • Shadow Box Design featured image

    Shadow Box Design

    Shadow boxes are commonly used in curtain wall construction, but can be problematic if not designed and detailed correctly and appropriately for the …

  • The Myth of Simplicity featured image

    The Myth of Simplicity

    There were good why reasons early US Modernism first evolved in California– wide open sites with no constraints (physical or zoning), and effectively…

  • Lightning Protection as Building Envelope featured image

    Lightning Protection as Building Envelope

    A building’s envelope mitigates the effects of meteorological phenomena – including lightning – upon the structure and its occupants and contents. Th…

  • Façade Systems and Embodied Carbon featured image

    Façade Systems and Embodied Carbon

    Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a methodology used to quantify the impact of building construction supply chains on the environment in terms of measur…

  • 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…

  • Facade Resilience Evaluation Framework featured image

    Facade Resilience Evaluation Framework

    Resiliency is the capacity of a building (or building component in the case of the facade) to support building functionalities during extreme events …