The Building Envelope

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.

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.

PCM Enhanced Building Envelopes presents the latest research in the field of thermal energy storage technologies that can be applied to solar heating and cooling with the aim of shifting and reducing building energy demand. It discusses both practical and technical issues, as well as the advantages of using common phase change materials (PCMs) in buildings as a more efficient, novel solution for passive solar heating/cooling strategies. The book includes qualitative and quantitative descriptions of the science, technology and practices of PCM-based building envelopes, and reflects recent trends by placing emphasis on energy storage solutions within building walls, floors, ceilings, façades, windows, and shading devices. With the aim of assessing buildings’ energy performance, the book provides advanced modeling and simulation tools as a theoretical basis for the analysis of PCM-based building envelopes in terms of heat storage and transfer. This book will be of interest to all those dealing with building energy analysis such as researchers, academics, students and professionals in the fields of mechanical and civil engineering and architectural design

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

Integrate the best building envelope construction methods, materials science, and structural principles in your work using this book as a resource to help you... With more than seventy significant case studies located in North America, South America, Europe, and Asia from prehistory to the present, this book illuminates the theory and techniques of assembling exteriors. Six chapters organized by wall types, from hand-set monolithic walls to digitally fabricated curtain walls, each have a material focus section to help you understand their intrinsic properties so that you can decide which will best keep the weather out of your building. Examples from the ancient world, including the Pyramids and the Great Wall, through a range of renowned modern architects, such as Studio Gang, Sauerbruch Hutton, Herzog and deMeuron, and Rafael Moneo, illustrate how significant works in the history of architecture explored innovative use of materials – stone, brick, concrete, glass, and aluminium. Along the way, principles of construction from masonry and basic framing through ever more sophisticated envelope systems address classic problems presented by gravity, wind, rain, and sun with studies of lateral forces, building movements and materials that bridge the gaps in between them.

The facade is the building’s interface with its environment. It is here that building physics parameters such as heat, humidity, sound and light interact with the building. All these influences need to be controlled by the building envelope in order to ensure the comfort of the user and the functional performance of the architecture. This introduction explains the most important phenomena and then relates them to design and building practice – which materials react in which way to these factors? How do facade systems deal with heat, humidity, sound and light? This practice-oriented book, which is the result of cooperation between an architect and a structural engineer, describes the most important facade materials and constructions under the aspect of their building physics performance.

This book offers a comprehensive overview of the use of bamboo in building industry. It systematically demonstrates bamboo’s utility in terms of its properties, describing the material properties of typical industrial bamboo products, and discussing their performance evaluation and optimization as building components and in the creation of building envelopes. The book also includes examples of the high-value utilization of bamboo forest resources. Further, it examines how building performance may be affected by conditions such as climate. Including insights from material science, construction design, building physics and building climatology, the book also provides data obtained from technology and market status investigation, laboratory test and the computer simulation.This book appeals to scientists and professionals, as it introduces and tests various bamboo products, demonstrating the advantages and disadvantages for each one. The book is also a valuable resource for civil engineers and students interested in this unique plant material and its application in the building industry.

Energy Modeling and Computations in the Building Envelope instills a deeper understanding of the energy interactions between buildings and the environment, based on the analysis of transfer processes operating in the building envelope components at the microscopic level. The author:Proposes a generalized physics model that describes these interacti