77 results

  • Form as Energy

    All too often, high-performance building envelopes are considered in terms of new materials and technologies that push specific systems to improve en…

  • Contextual Envelopes featured image

    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

    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 …

  • Adaptive Facades

    Facade engineering aims at appropriately balancing the demands imposed by the context and the capabilities inherent to the materials, the geometries …

  • Infinite Panel System

    Today, building facades are expected to do much more than merely provide shelter, which is driving the need for higher performing envelope solutions.…

  • Geometric Patterns as Architectural Forms

    Facade design is a key component of architectural expression, and increasingly a key design consideration due to growing importance of factors like: …

  • Kinetic Solar Envelope

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

  • Kinetic Shading Systems

    This study focuses on experiments in kinetics and architectural skins. More extensively, it introduces a solution for environmental design issues and…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • All-Glass Bearing Facades

    The Green Village at the TU Delft is a living lab for sustainable innovations. The Co Creation Centre (CCC) will be their new meeting center (13.5 x …

  • Smart Colored Window Technology

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

  • Architectural Ceramic Assemblies

    This paper documents a six year academia/industry collaboration between researchers at the Department of Architecture, University at Buffalo (SUNY) a…

  • Contextualizing Glass and Carbon Impacts

    Climate change goals will require significant improvements in the way buildings are constructed and operated. Building reuse can combat climate chang…

  • Specifying Electrochromic Glass

    Electrochromic (EC) glass is a seemingly magical solution to a building’s sun shading problems. A technology that was originally developed about sixt…

  • Prototyping with Ultra-Thin Glass

    This paper proposes system concepts and fabrication methods for the use of ultra-thin glass in facades. It documents the team's research on ultra-thi…

  • Renewing Two Saarinen Icons

    Kresge Auditorium and the MIT Chapel, designed by Eero Saarinen and built in 1955, are both world renowned works of architecture and powerful symbols…