100 results

  • ETFE Membrane Envelope Strategies

    Airflow within the cavity of double-skin facades is a key component of adaptive building envelopes which change thermophysical properties to meet cha…

  • ETFE Canopy at the Australian Embassy in Jakarta

    In 2015, Australia’s largest embassy complex in the world was built in Jakarta, Indonesia, to provide an official residence for Australia’s permanent…

  • Adaptive Building Envelope featured image

    Adaptive Building Envelope

    Designing a multi-functional building envelope as an architectural façade, environmental interface and solar collector is a multi-objective explorati…

  • Building by Numbers

    This paper outlines the successful implementation of digital workflows between the design team composed of Architect, Structural Engineer and Project…

  • Effect of Thermal Bridging on Buildings' Energy Performance featured image

    Effect of Thermal Bridging on Buildings' Energy Performance

    Heat transfer through building facades can occur by any combinations of conduction, convection, and/or radiation. Conductive heat transfer depends on…

  • Anisotropic Effects in Architectural Glass

    Iridescence effects, quench marks, leopard marks… The names given to optical anisotropy in toughened and heat-strengthened glass are diverse and wide…

  • Advances in Effective Thickness

    Effective thickness is a simplified method for the structural evaluation of laminated glass section properties. The method consists of defining the e…

  • Hardened Facades Effects on Structural Systems featured image

    Hardened Facades Effects on Structural Systems

    To ensure the safety of U.S diplomatic personnel overseas, the U.S Department of State (DoS) has developed facade retrofits capable of resisting high…

  • Exo-Skins

    Cost-effective, sustainable, self-actuating, thermally-responsive, bio-composite exo-skins that act like shields or cloaks for existing buildings cou…

  • 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…

  • Undulated Glass Self-shading featured image

    Undulated Glass Self-shading

    The research is structured around complex optical effects of undulated glass and coatings that exhibit high reflectivity, especially at higher incide…

  • Stop F*cking Around – Build Our Zero Carbon Economy Now

    To avoid the worst effects of the climate crisis, we urgently need to reduce carbon emissions now. But that's not enough! This original article for SKINS by Drew Shula is a veritable manifesto on the why and how of climate action for all of us.

  • Vertical Louvered Solar Control

    Exterior shading devices, when typically used, are horizontal planes that are most effective at the south face of buildings in the northern hemispher…

  • Facade Wind Loading

    Wind induced pressure is a major design consideration for building facades. However, the effects of facade geometry and urban terrain on wind loading…

  • Terra Cotta Skins

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

  • HydroSKIN

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

  • Data-Driven Shading Systems featured image

    Data-Driven Shading Systems

    Analyzing the energy performance of complex building envelopes, determining the need for sun protection, and assessing the effectiveness of shading d…

  • Tectonism and Responsible Urban Futures

    We at Zaha Hadid Architects Computation and Design group (ZHACODE) explore the relevance of this resource-effective, experience-rich design and construction paradigm to both large institutional projects with complex geometry and mass-customisation, repeated unit projects with assembly complexities.

  • High Performance: Who Benefits?

    I recently started studying Sustainable Environmental Systems at Pratt Institute. One of my classes focused on climate change and its social effects across the world. I started to connect the dots backward and question the impact of our work in facades and fenestration on our local communities.

  • 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…