Building Envelopes

The concept of tomorrow's towns and cities will be based on new social, economic and technological ideals focused on improving the quality of life. To attain this objective, architects and engineers of today must improve the quality of buildings and establish new principles of building conception. The quality of interior space and the impact of a building on its surroundings depends strongly on the physical interface that separates the outer environment from the inner building space. The conception and realisation of this interface (the envelope) are, therefore, of prime importance.

Few parts of a building work harder than its envelope (also known as its facade). The envelope is the part of the building most visible from the outside--so it should be visually appealing--but it can also have the biggest effect on the well-being and safety of its occupants--so the envelope should be help heat and cool the building, allow light into it, and provide necessary structure. Too often, a building's envelope is more aesthetically striking than functional, or vice versa. A great building envelope, though, architecturally integrates all of its elements.

The Ecologies of the Building Envelope theorizes the building envelope as a literal embodiment of the social, political, technological, and economic contingencies which have become embedded within it over the last century, analyzing the historical lineages, heroes and villains that helped define the complex material ecologies we see within the envelope today. While the façade is one of the most thoroughly theorized elements of architecture, it is also one of the most questioned since the end of the 19th century. Within the discipline of architecture, the traditional understanding of the façade focuses primarily on semiotic and compositional operations (such as proportional laws and linguistic codes), which are deployed on the building's surface. In contrast to this, our material and environmental theory of the envelope proposes that the exponential development of building technologies since the mid-19th century, coupled with new techniques of management and regulation, have diminished the compositional and ornamental capacities of the envelope in favor of material, quantitative, and technical performances. Rather than producing a stylistic analysis of the façade, we investigate the historical lineages of the performances, components, assembly types, and material entanglements that constitute the contemporary building envelope.

Advanced Building Envelope Components: Comparative Experiments focuses on the latest research in innovative materials, systems and components, also providing a detailed technical explanation on what this breakthrough means for building exteriors and sustainability. Topics include a discussion of transparent envelope components, including intelligent kinetic skins, such as low-e coatings, high vs. low silver content in glass, solar control coatings, such as silver vs. niobium vs. tin, and more. In addition, opaque envelope components are also presented, including opaque dynamic facades, clay lining vs. plasterboard and nano clayed foams. Includes real case studies that explore, in detail, the behavior of different envelopes Presents laboratory tests on existing insulation (if any, through samples extracted on-site) to quantify actual performances Provides the tools and methods for comparing, selecting and testing materials and components for designing effective building envelopes Covers both transparent and opaque envelope components, as well as opaque dynamic facades

As a result of changes in the composition of the population, society changes continuously with respect to various factors including age-structure, family composition and the availability of energy. Changes lead to situations that are reflected in the commissioning of buildings, which is gradually shifted from new construction to the reuse and renovation of existing buildings. The adaptation of buildings often requires the modification of facades and the construction behind. The scope of this action withinthe COST Transport and Urban Development Domain is to improve techniques and methods for envelopes of buildings constructed during the last half of the 20th century in the COST countries. In other words it is directed on the building envelopes of the so-clled non-traditional buildings. This publication is based on a support by COST, an intergovernmental European framework for international cooperation between nationally funded research activities. COST creates scientific networks and enables scientists tocollaborate in a wide spectrum of activities in research and technology.

As a result of changes in the composition of the population, society changes continuously with respect to various factors including age-structure, family composition and the availability of energy. Changes lead to situations that are reflected in the commissioning of buildings, which is gradually shifted from new construction to the reuse and renovation of existing buildings. The adaptation of buildings often requires the modification of facades and the construction behind. The scope of this action within the COST Transport and Urban Development Domain is to improve techniques and methods for envelopes of buildings constructed during the last half of the 20th century in the COST countries. In other words it is directed on the building envelopes of the so-called non-traditional buildings. This publication is based on a support by COST, an intergovernmental European framework for international cooperation between nationally funded research activities. COST creates scientific networks and enables scientists to collaborate in a wide spectrum of activities in research and technology.

As a result of changes in the composition of the population, society changes continuously with respect to various factors including age-structure, family composition and the availability of energy. Changes lead to situations that are reflected in the commissioning of buildings, which is gradually shifted from new construction to the reuse and renovation of existing buildings. The adaptation of buildings often requires the modification of facades and the construction behind. The scope of this action within the COST Transport and Urban Development Domain is to improve techniques and methods for envelopes of buildings constructed during the last half of the 20th century in the COST countries. In other words it is directed on the building envelopes of the so-called non-traditional buildings. This publication is based on a support by COST, an intergovernmental European framework for international cooperation between nationally funded research activities. COST creates scientific networks and enables scientists to collaborate in a wide spectrum of activities in research and technology.

The design and construction of the appropriate building envelope is one of the most effective ways for improving a building’s thermal performance. Thermal Inertia in Energy Efficient Building Envelopes provides the optimal solutions, tools and methods for designing the energy efficient envelopes that will reduce energy consumption and achieve thermal comfort and low environmental impact. Thermal Inertia in Energy Efficient Building Envelopes provides experimental data, technical solutions and methods for quantifying energy consumption and comfort levels, also considering dynamic strategies such as thermal inertia and natural ventilation. Several type of envelopes and their optimal solutions are covered, including retrofit of existing envelopes, new solutions, passive systems such as ventilated facades and solar walls. The discussion also considers various climates (mild or extreme) and seasons, building typology, mode of use of the internal environment, heating profiles and cross-ventilation Experimental investigations on real case studies, to explore in detail the behaviour of different envelopes Laboratory tests on existing insulation to quantify the actual performances Analytical simulations in dynamic conditions to extend the boundary conditions to other climates and usage profiles and to consider alternative insulation strategies Evaluation of solutions sustainability through the quantification of environmental and economic impacts with LCA analysis; including global cost comparison between the different scenarios Integrated evaluations between various aspects such as comfort, energy saving, and sustainability