130 results

  • Why SKINS?

    Here’s the thing about the building SKIN: It is utterly unique in the built environment in separating the interior and exterior environments, balancing attributes of both appearance and performance in the process. It’s the gateway to resilience and sustainability goals in urban habitats.

  • Resilient SKINS: Bending with the Wind

    Are you resilient? Do you bend to the winds of change or do you resist? Do you bounce back from adversity or is your recovery long, slow, and incomplete? Do you readily adopt lifestyle changes in response to personal health, economic, or environmental challenges, or is your response one of denial?

  • Exo-Skins

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

  • Terra Cotta Skins

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

  • 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,

  • FTI Announces New SKINS Podcast

    FTI’s Mic Patterson will be interviewing industry thought leaders on wide-ranging topics relating to buildings and their skins. Upcoming episodes will feature conversations on Passive House, tall buildings and the work the DOE is doing with windows and facades.

  • Episode 09: Ted Kesik on SKINS

    Special guest Ted Kesik, PhD, Professor of Building Science at the University of Toronto, joins us to discuss everything from digital workflows and durability to embodied carbon and resilience.

  • Spotlight on Research: R&D and Innovation in Building Skins

    Research is an essential part of innovation. Our industry has seen an increased interest in research over the last fifteen years, driven by the multifaceted challenges facing our profession—environmental concerns, increasing complexity in building design and construction, necessity to improve...

  • Fenestration Challenges

    The May SKINS newsletter focuses on fenestration, that is – windows, curtainwall, storefront, glazed doors and skylights. There are very few structures that are built without these elements, not just because they are so crucial for occupant health and well-being.

  • Embodied Carbon

    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.

  • Next normal: Advanced composites for a changing industry

    This issue of SKINS will attempt to introduce you to composite materials in an accurate, useful and fairly in-depth way. But it’s only an introduction; it’s a start but by no means a rigorous exploration of the full potential of this remarkable material technology.