344 results

  • Glass Spandrels and Shadow Boxes featured image

    Glass Spandrels and Shadow Boxes

    Glass spandrels are a common design strategy utilized to opacify floor levels in building facades. These opaque glass assemblies are integrated into…
  • The Myth of Simplicity featured image

    The Myth of Simplicity

    There were good why reasons early US Modernism first evolved in California– wide open sites with no constraints (physical or zoning), and effectively…
  • Form Follows Well-Being featured image

    Form Follows Well-Being

    Recent planning recognizes a growing demand for buildings that provide higher levels of occupant well-being. Often, well-being in buildings is…
  • Kinetic Solar Envelope featured image

    Kinetic Solar Envelope

    Kinetic responsive systems are gaining attention in architectural applications, to reduce the building’s energy consumption and environmental impact,…
  • More Than a Facade

    In 2014, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) approved the Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute (PCI) as an accredited ANSI Standards

  • Inside the Box featured image

    Inside the Box

    The trend towards modular and unitized facades continues to grow in popularity due largely in part to the efficiencies gained in terms of cost and…
  • Novel Thermal Break Solution

    Thermal-break-blanket technology is a novel and high-performance thermal break solution for aluminum curtain walls. The thermal-break-blanket is

  • Parametric Louver System featured image

    Parametric Louver System

    The Parametric Louver System is a customized tool that expedites several design iterations while embedding multiple design parameters. The ambition…
  • The Carapace Pavilion featured image

    The Carapace Pavilion

    The Carapace Pavilion is a university-based, design-build, full-scale custom prototype for a possible replacement of the standard precast concrete…
  • Stainless Steel 101

    This paper presents a summary of the industry advances beyond T304 and T316 austenitic stainless steels. The greater availability of precipitation

  • 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

  • Unitized Curtain Wall featured image

    Unitized Curtain Wall

    Unitized curtain wall has become ubiquitous in contemporary facade design and construction due to advantages associated with speed of erection, lower…
  • International Facade Education featured image

    International Facade Education

    Globalization in the construction industry has brought about new demands for buildings and construction projects, new demands that still need to take…
  • Elliptical Ways featured image

    Elliptical Ways

    Construction projects almost invariably encounter a critical stage at the moment of handover between the designing and the executing party. At this…
  • Climate-Oriented Prefabricated Building Envelopes featured image

    Climate-Oriented Prefabricated Building Envelopes

    Facades developed in response to climactic factors increase performance and human comfort while reducing energy loads. A single building envelope…
  • Verifying Thermal Performance

    Architects specify curtain wall thermal performance criteria and usually identify simple modeling software, like THERM, to perform thermal analysis

  • Vertical Louvered Solar Control featured image

    Vertical Louvered Solar Control

    Exterior shading devices, when typically used, are horizontal planes that are most effective at the south face of buildings in the northern…
  • Vintage Vinyl featured image

    Vintage Vinyl

    Mid-century through 1980’s buildings with lock-strip or “zipper-gasket” glazing systems are an ever present part of the urban landscape in many…
  • Working With Big Data featured image

    Working With Big Data

    Big data is having a noticeable impact on enclosure engineering design. With continuing advancements that liberate the geometrical form and the…