New Course on Building Façade Design Developed at Oklahoma State University

A façade, which is also called a ‘secondary structural system’, typically separates the exterior from the interior of a building. In recent times, there has been an increase in the use of facades made up of different materials, such as aluminum, glass, stone, vinyl, and sheet metal. Building facades are exposed to environmental loads such as wind, seismic, thermal, rain and snow loads. Furthermore, facades such as curtain walls, are aesthetically pleasing and if properly designed, can prevent heat losses, leading to energy efficient buildings. Traditionally, most courses in civil and architectural engineering across the United States and other parts of the world, focus primarily on structural design of steel, concrete, and timber, which are largely used in constructing main frame load-bearing members. Due to the lack of a formal course and textbooks in façade design, graduates in civil or architectural engineering find it rather difficult to design facades while working in the industry. This requires industries to provide additional training to recent graduates before they can work on façade design projects. To close this ‘knowledge gap’, the authors at the School of Architecture (SOA), Oklahoma State University (OSU) decided to develop a new course titled ‘façade design’. As part of this endeavor, students from the SOA that included architects and architectural engineers, were asked to fill out a questionnaire to obtain their views about a prospective course in façade design. After receiving positive feedback from the students which was very encouraging, the authors decided to develop the façade design course, that currently includes several topics of structural engineering and building science applied to façade design. The course was successfully developed in the Fall of 2023 and was recently offered in Spring 2024 to both students of architecture and architectural engineering. Currently, the SOA offers accredited programs in architectural engineering and architecture, which share several courses that include engineering, management, and studio-based courses. It is anticipated that the introduction of the façade design course could potentially see future students serve the industry with enhanced knowledge in façade design. This article presents the stages of development, content, and structure of the course, besides discussing the contribution of this course to the programs at the SOA and the architectural engineering community at large.