29 results

  • Wherefor Aluminum: Materiality of Curtain Wall Systems

    Historically, the material advantages of aluminum have resulted in its widespread application as curtain wall framing. But amidst the 21st century push for increased energy performance, aluminum is also characterized by problematic thermal properties and a high-embodied energy profile.

  • PowerSkin Conference 2022

    The PowerSkin Conference aims to address the role of building skins to accomplish a carbon neutral building stock.

  • Net Zero Tower

    John Neary describes a collaborative Advanced design Studio at City Tech that involved Permasteelisa, Skanska and Onyx Solar, with links to the published student works.

  • Reduce, Reuse, Reclad

    Kintsukuroi, the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with powdered precious metal, is a practice of celebrating the life and history of an objec…

  • Optimized Adaptive Re-Use

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

  • 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…

  • PowerSKIN Conference

    The next PowerSKIN Conference will be held virtually in Munich on April 9th. The focus of the 2021 conference deals with the question of whether simplicity and robustness are in contradiction to good performance or whether they even complement each other: Simplicity vs. Performance?

  • 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…

  • Shaping Skin

    The conventional modern facade is essentially flat, which creates the tendency toward visual monotony and problems for modulating daylight—both on th…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…