Put Your Sweater On!
During the particularly cold first months of 1977 President Jimmy Carter, in what some call “The Sweater Speech,” famously noted how much energy coul…
41 results
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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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Lithic Revival
The recently completed Capital One Hall performing arts center located in the Washington DC metro area is defined by a pleated exterior of glass and …
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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.…
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Case Study: Kao Ho Hospital Development, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
U-shaped annealed profiled glass, or U channel glass is used in both the interior and exterior glass façade for decades, as it has long and durable s…
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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…
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Facade Mock-ups
Curtain walls and window walls are typically specified to meet a variety of different performance and testing criteria, some of which can be quite st…
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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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Novel Active Facade Systems and Their Energy Performance in Commercial Buildings
This article presents results of a research study that focuses on understanding energy performance of novel facade systems that integrate thermoelect…
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Process of Repair Evaluation
As the building stock ages around the country and the consequences of design and/or construction that are deficient or lack resiliency become apparen…
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Insulating Glass Unit Gas Loss
Concerns over time-dependent argon permeation through the perimeter edge seals of insulating glass units (IGUs) led the authors to utilize two commer…
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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…
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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…
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Sustainable Retrofit Strategies for an Existing Laboratory Building
This paper analyzes sustainable retrofit strategies for an existing research laboratory building, located in a cold climate. This facility is compose…
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Adaptive Facades
Facade engineering aims at appropriately balancing the demands imposed by the context and the capabilities inherent to the materials, the geometries …
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Design Principles For Museum Daylight Systems
This research unlocks the relationship between space, structure and light in nine unique museums developed by architect Renzo Piano. Renzo Piano uses…
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DC Water Headquarters Case Study
Facades must be responsive to a myriad of qualities and influences ranging from urban impact and aesthetic character to numerous performance requirem…
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ACT Facade
Due to material and technological advancement during the last century, transparency has become a prominent trend in contemporary architecture. Howeve…
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Fire Safety and Code Challenges for Mass Timber in Curtain Wall Systems
With the desire for more sustainable construction and reduced embodied energy, mass timber is being explored for building structures. For medium and …
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Invert Auto-Shading
Allowing sufficient amount of natural light while avoiding excessive sunlight penetration is often hard to achieve with static facade systems due to …