21 results

  • 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…

  • Addressing Embodied Carbon

    Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the building sector is critical to limiting global temperature rise to less than 1.5⁰C. Construction and build…

  • Façade Systems and Embodied Carbon

    Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a methodology used to quantify the impact of building construction supply chains on the environment in terms of measur…

  • 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…

  • 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 …

  • The Carbon Footprint of Aluminum Fenestration featured image

    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…

  • Towards Net Zero Enclosures featured image

    Towards Net Zero Enclosures

    As architects and designers we understand the urgency of addressing the building sector’s role in the ongoing environmental crisis. Architecture2030 …

  • 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…

  • Prefab Facades – from Prototype to Product?

    Building envelopes are not only an immediately visible part of the building, they have also become a major factor both for cost and performance of th…

  • End-of-Life Challenges in Facade Design featured image

    End-of-Life Challenges in Facade Design

    In recent decades, there has been increased attention to reduce the operational energy performance of buildings. Stringent legislation on building en…

  • Bringing an Icon Into the Future: Willis Tower

    Few buildings are as iconic as Willis Tower. Generations of Chicagoans have a collective memory of this building playing a role in their entire lives…

  • Sustainable Façades

    Transposing innovation from government funded research to commercially viable solutions becomes ever more important when combined with the urgent nee…

  • Evaluating The Environmental Performance Of Stick Curtain Wall Systems

    The construction industry is one of the greatest sources of pollution, where 39% of global energy-related carbon emissions are attributed to building…

  • Carbon-Neutral High-Rise Envelope Nexus

    The pathway to carbon-neutrality, as urged during the COP 21 in Paris, and the repeated goal for resilient buildings and urban habitats, winds right …

  • Structuring Skin

    Curtain wall is the prevailing type of enclosure on modern buildings because of its economy, its independence from structure that allows flexibility …

  • Optimized Adaptive Re-Use featured image

    Optimized Adaptive Re-Use

    Contemporary building practice represents a disconnect between traditional manufacturing techniques, that favor straight runs and orthogonal geometri…

  • Hybrid Timber featured image

    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…

  • Orbit Tower featured image

    Orbit Tower

    While most of high-rise buildings feature a core surrounded by a spatial frame defining the volume, one could envision a column-free plan where the p…