59 results

  • Historical Evolution of Responsive Facades

    Responsive facade system is considered a major component of high-performance building envelope that is capable of responding to environmental stimuli…

  • Let Thin Glass in the Facade Move featured image

    Let Thin Glass in the Facade Move

    Facades play an important role in the control of energy flow and energy consumption in buildings as they represent the interface between the outdoor …

  • Facade Expansion Joint Systems featured image

    Facade Expansion Joint Systems

    As awareness around the seismic performance of buildings grows, it is becoming increasingly necessary to integrate seismic expansion joint cover syst…

  • Breathing Lessons featured image

    Breathing Lessons

    For a new corporate headquarters in San Francisco’s Mission Bay district, SHoP Architects designed a semi-conditioned atrium space inside the externa…

  • Kinetic Solar Envelope featured image

    Kinetic Solar Envelope

    Kinetic responsive systems are gaining attention in architectural applications, to reduce the building’s energy consumption and environmental impact,…

  • Corrugated-geometry Copper and Glass Facade featured image

    Corrugated-geometry Copper and Glass Facade

    The subject of this case study is the design and construction of a custom corrugated-geometry facade featuring pre-patinated copper and glass for an …

  • Contextual Envelopes

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

  • Developments in Gridshell Design featured image

    Developments in Gridshell Design

    In 1959 Heinz Isler challenged the world of concrete shell design by proposing a series of shapes for shells that were very different from what most …

  • Iconic Buildings featured image

    Iconic Buildings

    The iconic building principal incentive is to be visually attractive or stand out, for this purpose three main features must be accomplished: have a …

  • Steel As A Curtain Wall Framing Material featured image

    Steel As A Curtain Wall Framing Material

    This paper will explore steel forming methods other than cold drawn or hot rolled processes, and how they allow steel to be utilized as the primary f…

  • Managing Solar Reflections from the Building Envelope

    Understanding how a building will reflect sunlight has gone from a rare requirement to a key consideration during the planning permission process in …

  • Smart Colored Window Technology

    Traditional architecture can be a valuable source of inspiration for designers. Sustainable design concepts in traditional architecture have been exp…

  • Edge Lighting Glazing with Hidden Fixtures

    Dynamic architectural lighting in urban areas is a key element in creating attractive nighttime icons in addition to potentially generating advertise…

  • Invert Auto-Shading featured image

    Invert Auto-Shading

    Allowing sufficient amount of natural light while avoiding excessive sunlight penetration is often hard to achieve with static facade systems due to …

  • Unitized Curtain Wall featured image

    Unitized Curtain Wall

    Unitized curtain wall has become ubiquitous in contemporary facade design and construction due to advantages associated with speed of erection, lower…

  • Seismic Movements

    A common building upgrade to add value to existing commercial real estate is the renewal of the entrance lobby. The lobby facade is replaced to give …

  • Low-Carbon Cladding and Shading Design

    In the last few years, the design community has embraced the challenge of reducing embodied carbon in buildings. Several tools are now available for …