From gothic masonry to the sculptural building facades of today, exposed structural surfaces are often the most defining element of architecture. Increasingly, however, designers sit at a nexus of these aesthetic considerations and performance-driven design.
The design of complex, high-performance facades involves balancing attention towards principles of material selection, thermal and moisture protectio…
Inspired by the President’s Climate Action Plan and Architecture 2030 Challenge, Metals in Construction magazine and the OMINY tapped designers in late 2015 to create an eco‐friendly, highly transparent enclosure that preserves the aesthetic integrity of 200 Park Ave.
Large format, steel-stud framed “megapanel” facades with rainscreen cladding create uniquely complicated requirements for digital documentation and 3…
As awareness around the seismic performance of buildings grows, it is becoming increasingly necessary to integrate seismic expansion joint cover syst…
Over the last two decades, in what has been coined “The Digital Turn”, the introduction of parametric design software has afforded increased accessib…
Traditional approach for engineering the facade is building an isolated analysis model. However, it inhibits a dynamic design process where architect…
The Parametric Louver System is a customized tool that expedites several design iterations while embedding multiple design parameters. The ambition o…
As facades become more sophisticated and complex, more detail-intensive and performance-critical, it's vital that architecture students develop a dee…
This paper presents a summary of the industry advances beyond T304 and T316 austenitic stainless steels. The greater availability of precipitation ha…
The design of structural glass systems continues to evolve with the parallel development of new manufacturing technology. Improvements in the manufac…
Unitized curtain wall has become ubiquitous in contemporary facade design and construction due to advantages associated with speed of erection, lower…
Shadow boxes are commonly used in curtain wall construction, but can be problematic if not designed and detailed correctly and appropriately for the …
What was once an accepted reality in heat-treated exterior glass, optical disturbances in glass are under increasing scrutiny by developers, designer…
There were good why reasons early US Modernism first evolved in California– wide open sites with no constraints (physical or zoning), and effectively…
Stainless steel has been successfully used in building envelopes since the completion of the Chrysler building in 1928. Today, it is used as both a s…
Traditional architecture can be a valuable source of inspiration for designers. Sustainable design concepts in traditional architecture have been exp…
On a commercial high-rise tower project located in Hong Kong, the design team was challenged to make a facade that would beneficial to tenants with a…
Building envelopes cover a considerable part of the urban exterior surfaces, and to therefore have a significant leverage effect on the climate resil…
The wonder of nature is the abundance of unique forms she creates based on a few simple physical principles or laws. No two snowflakes are alike. Eve…