Modeling Megapanels
Large format, steel-stud framed “megapanel” facades with rainscreen cladding create uniquely complicated requirements for digital documentation and 3…
62 results
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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…
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Performance Based Generative Facade Workflow for Large Scale Projects
Over the last two decades, in what has been coined “The Digital Turn”, the introduction of parametric design software has afforded increased accessib…
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Coupling Facade and Structure
Traditional approach for engineering the facade is building an isolated analysis model. However, it inhibits a dynamic design process where architect…
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Parametric Louver System
The Parametric Louver System is a customized tool that expedites several design iterations while embedding multiple design parameters. The ambition o…
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Teaching Facades
As facades become more sophisticated and complex, more detail-intensive and performance-critical, it's vital that architecture students develop a dee…
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Stainless Steel 101
This paper presents a summary of the industry advances beyond T304 and T316 austenitic stainless steels. The greater availability of precipitation ha…
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Seismic Design of Jumbo Glass Structures
The design of structural glass systems continues to evolve with the parallel development of new manufacturing technology. Improvements in the manufac…
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Unitized Curtain Wall
Unitized curtain wall has become ubiquitous in contemporary facade design and construction due to advantages associated with speed of erection, lower…
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Shadow Box Design
Shadow boxes are commonly used in curtain wall construction, but can be problematic if not designed and detailed correctly and appropriately for the …
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The Myth of Simplicity
There were good why reasons early US Modernism first evolved in California– wide open sites with no constraints (physical or zoning), and effectively…
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Heat-Treated Glass
What was once an accepted reality in heat-treated exterior glass, optical disturbances in glass are under increasing scrutiny by developers, designer…
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Sustainable Materials
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…
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Smart Colored Window Technology
Traditional architecture can be a valuable source of inspiration for designers. Sustainable design concepts in traditional architecture have been exp…
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Managing Constraints
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…
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HydroSKIN
Building envelopes cover a considerable part of the urban exterior surfaces, and to therefore have a significant leverage effect on the climate resil…
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Emulating Nature's Structured Randomness in Facade Design
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…
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Pioneering the Structural Terracotta Mullion Façade
Architects today must explore alternative enclosure materials to meet evolving energy codes and embodied carbon regulations. Terra cotta has been mos…
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Vintage Vinyl
Mid-century through 1980’s buildings with lock-strip or “zipper-gasket” glazing systems are an ever present part of the urban landscape in many citie…
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The Craft of Building Enclosures
This paper will provide case studies of two high-performance building envelopes in the San Francisco Bay Area where the fabrication of bespoke façade…