62 results

  • Preserving a Historic Facade

    Environmental and socio-economic benefits of sustainable preservation have become apparent most recently in the restoration of the historic former Ma…

  • Retrofit Options for Historic Facades

    Building design criteria requires that government buildings be designed for a variety of extreme loads including blast, hurricane, and impact conditi…

  • Wherefor Aluminum: Materiality of Curtain Wall Systems

    Historically, the material advantages of aluminum have resulted in its widespread application as curtain wall framing. But amidst the 21st century push for increased energy performance, aluminum is also characterized by problematic thermal properties and a high-embodied energy profile.

  • The Carbon Footprint of Aluminum Fenestration featured image

    The Carbon Footprint of Aluminum Fenestration

    The historical focus on reducing the carbon footprint of a building has recently shifted to include more emphasis on embodied carbon, the carbon emit…

  • Transformation as Movement featured image

    Transformation as Movement

    In 1888 the art historian Heinrich Wölfflin proposed the notion that the primary characteristic of baroque architecture is the illusion of movement. …

  • Paul Rudolph's Christian Science Building featured image

    Paul Rudolph's Christian Science Building

    This paper presents new historical research on the concrete facade of an important but relatively unknown and now demolished building by the American…

  • Event Passed

    Building Innovation 2023 - Call for Abstracts!

    The National Institute of Building Sciences is gearing up for the industry’s only conference for the entire building community to connect, collaborate, and design solutions for the built environment – and we are looking for speakers.

    Industry Event by National Institute of Building Sciences

  • 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…

  • Shade and Spectacle featured image

    Shade and Spectacle

    This paper will look at the different facades of the Elysian Fields apartment building designed by Warren Techentin Architecture [WTARCH] and complet…

  • Episode 08: Reglazing Modernism

    Special guests Uta Pottgiesser of TU Delft and Angel Ayón of AYON Studio Architecture and Preservation discuss their recent book, Reglazing Modernism, where they explore facade intervention strategies on Modern-era buildings through international case studies.

  • Saving Face

    In 1871, a fourth level Architecture course was offered in New York City that instructed on topics such as heating, ventilation and circulation of wa…

  • Contextual Envelopes

    Aesthetic and technical capabilities of facade design have become seemingly endless as building technologies progress. While the capacity to address …