80 results

  • Façade Systems and Embodied Carbon

    Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a methodology used to quantify the impact of building construction supply chains on the environment in terms of

  • Behind the Surface

    The architectural facade, like clothing for a building's form, serves as both an aesthetic expression and a protective veil, concealing the inner…
  • From Design to Experiment

    Flat cable-net facades are form-active structures which provide maximum transparency by means of point fixing components, tensioned cables, and

  • The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, LA

    Renzo Piano Building Workshop designed a 290,000 sf museum celebrating the artistry and technology of film, becoming the world’s first museum and

  • Pioneering the Structural Terracotta Mullion Façade featured image

    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…
  • Integrated Energy Analysis

    Energy codes across the country are progressively getting stricter and increasing the threshold for a baseline building’s energy performance.

  • Adaptable Glazing Shields

    Today, about 40% of all buildings in the U.S. still have single-pane windows, and ~70% of the existing building stock is estimated to suffer from

  • Shape Memory Alloy Activated Shading featured image

    Shape Memory Alloy Activated Shading

    A novel shading device for facade application was developed by combining innovative geometry elements (twisting cylinders) with a smart use of…
  • Detailing For Distance featured image

    Detailing For Distance

    Quickly exceeding new facade service life expectations for tall buildings imposed by increasing environmental, economic, and social pressures have…
  • Active and Energy Autonomous Window featured image

    Active and Energy Autonomous Window

    Reducing GHG emissions related to energy use in buildings is a prominent obligation given their impact in terms of climate change. In this light,…
  • Adaptive Facades featured image

    Adaptive Facades

    Facade engineering aims at appropriately balancing the demands imposed by the context and the capabilities inherent to the materials, the geometries…
  • Direct Sun and Occupant Comfort featured image

    Direct Sun and Occupant Comfort

    Direct sun on the body is a known potential cause of thermal discomfort for occupants, yet most thermal comfort simulations do not capture its…
  • Efficiency-Driven Facade Optimization

    As overall project schedules continue to contract and rising costs impact our design decisions, the importance of the design-assist phase for facades…
  • Building Scale Mock-up featured image

    Building Scale Mock-up

    Until recently, Google has occupied buildings that were designed for others and modified the interiors to suit its needs. Many of the improvements…
  • Carbon-Dioxide-Inhaling Facade

    3.5 billion years ago, cyanobacteria created the foundation for life on Earth by producing the oxygen basis for our atmosphere. Should we once again

  • Parametric Facade Design

    Parametric Design has become an invaluable tool for complex tasks like designing energy efficient buildings when joined to performance-based

  • Dynamic Shading Device

    Responsive shading systems can dynamically improve indoor environmental conditions based on outdoor climate variations. Among the technologies,

  • Catalytic Conversion featured image

    Catalytic Conversion

    Nowadays, the power of images is seductive. Bold and complex facades often have an innovative appearance but superficial tectonic depth;…
  • Go Big or Go Home! featured image

    Go Big or Go Home!

    This paper will focus on the design and detailing of large-format glass enclosures intended to maximize transparency using state-of-the-art materials…