34 results

  • Specifying Commercial Aluminum Finishes featured image

    Specifying Commercial Aluminum Finishes

    Many factors will influence coating selection, but to achieve the desired performance level for a given situation, coatings must be specified based u…

  • The Carbon Footprint of Aluminum Fenestration

    The historical focus on reducing the carbon footprint of a building has recently shifted to include more emphasis on embodied carbon, the carbon emit…

  • The Seismic Capability of Curtainwalls featured image

    The Seismic Capability of Curtainwalls

    The testing of aluminum/glass curtainwalls for seismic capability, mainly inter-story drift, has been carried out on many curtainwalls over the last …

  • Novel Thermal Break Solution featured image

    Novel Thermal Break Solution

    Thermal-break-blanket technology is a novel and high-performance thermal break solution for aluminum curtain walls. The thermal-break-blanket is inst…

  • Doubling Mies

    Mies van der Rohe’s concurrently designed projects for Commonwealth Promenade Apartments (1953-1956) and the Esplanade Apartments (1953-1957), saw th…

  • A Burning Question Revisited

    In recent decades the use of unitized glazing systems has become increasingly common especially for high-rise construction. The opaque panels in unit…

  • Differentiated Building Skin featured image

    Differentiated Building Skin

    The Los Angeles Stadium’s doubly curved skin is composed of over 35,000 unique triangular panels covering 296,502 square feet of surface area. The pa…

  • Hybrid Timber

    This case study provides an overview of building hybrid curtain wall system and future opportunities for the use of timber. It will also review the b…

  • 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…

  • Performance of Compact, Closed Cavity, Double-skin Curtain Wall featured image

    Performance of Compact, Closed Cavity, Double-skin Curtain Wall

    A proposed design for a compact, closed cavity, double-skin curtain wall system in the Marine climate of the West Coast raises questions of potential…

  • When Facades Kill featured image

    When Facades Kill

    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…

  • Shade and Spectacle featured image

    Shade and Spectacle

    This paper will look at the different facades of the Elysian Fields apartment building designed by Warren Techentin Architecture [WTARCH] and complet…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • Embodied Carbon Of Timber Unitized Curtain Wall featured image

    Embodied Carbon Of Timber Unitized Curtain Wall

    The building envelope is at the intersection of embodied and operational emissions. Curtain wall specifically could play an important role in reducin…

  • Hydrophobic Stainless Steel Surfaces featured image

    Hydrophobic Stainless Steel Surfaces

    There is no doubting the longevity of stainless steel building facades. The Chrysler Building and numerous buildings that followed have stood the tes…

  • 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 …

  • Balancing Visual Comfort and Energy Efficiency featured image

    Balancing Visual Comfort and Energy Efficiency

    With increasing interest in wellness and human-centric design in workplaces, the design of building enclosures is predicated on optimizing competing …

  • The Myth of Simplicity featured image

    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…