Combustible Cladding
When it comes to the subject of building enclosure in Australia, one topic has eclipsed all others in recent years: combustible cladding. It has even…
When it comes to the subject of building enclosure in Australia, one topic has eclipsed all others in recent years: combustible cladding. It has even…
For over 60 years architects, engineers, and consultants have been specifying stainless steels for use in building skins and in some structural appli…
Contemporary building practice represents a disconnect between traditional manufacturing techniques, that favor straight runs and orthogonal geometri…
In recent decades, there has been increased attention to reduce the operational energy performance of buildings. Stringent legislation on building en…
Being part of the European Façade Network efn, an association of ten research and education entities throughout Europe, I would like to share my experiences of last year’s conferences and research activities with this brief contribution.
This paper surveys facade design education in accredited Bachelor and Master of Architecture (B.Arch and M.Arch) programs in the United States. A rev…
There have been three decades of liberating developments in the application of descriptive geometry and freeform design methods, as well as the abili…
This case study focuses on the solutions provided for the Bell Museum at the University of Minnesota. Our design team worked with the client to creat…
This is an experimental and computational exploration of structural systems that transform between states of rigidity and flexibility. The goal is to…
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.
What environmental impact does one object have on the world? This is the question at the core of life cycle assessments (LCA); the embodied carbon lens. ...the current architectural practice rarely provides enough time to explore this type of examination.
Model building codes and standards in the United States use a probabilistic model to define glass load resistance (LR). In general, these model build…
Building envelopes cover a considerable part of the urban exterior surfaces, and to therefore have a significant leverage effect on the climate resil…
Precast Concrete Enclosures is an elective course taught by Assistant Professor Pablo Moyano Fernandez at Washington University in St. Louis. The primary goal of the course is to enable students to envision and materialize full-scale building envelopes using precast concrete.
High Performance Façades: Delivering Better Thermal, Safety, and Acoustical Performance, Presented by the Facade Tectonics Institute
The goal is to explore the role and methodology employed between the architect and engineer as they look to resolve the opposing demands of design ae…
The history of high performance facades and glazing has been a tale of attempting to manage the conflicting requirements of, on one hand inviting con…
In 2015, Australia’s largest embassy complex in the world was built in Jakarta, Indonesia, to provide an official residence for Australia’s permanent…
The tragic fire of June 14, 2017 at the Grenfell Tower in London, England has brought to a very public global forum issues related to the impact of f…
Welcome to this edition of the SKINS newsletter, which is all about carbon! As guest editor this month, I am representing FTI’s embodied carbon (EC) working group. This issue highlights several important topics relative to embodied and the trade-offs with operational carbon.