A Conceptual Design of an Integrated Façade System to Reduce Embodied Energy in Residential Buildings

(1) The overall energy requirement of a building may be impacted by the building design, the selection of materials, the construction methods, and lifecycle management. To achieve an optimum energy-efficiency level when dealing with a new building or renovation project, it is important to improve the entire construction process as it is not enough to merely focus on the operational phase. If conventional construction practices do not evolve, compromise, or adapt to necessary changes, then it becomes challenging to deliver an ultimate low energy building. (2) This paper demonstrates the trend of off-site prefabrication and its production principles and the notions of open-building design and Design for X, as well as offering an overview of the development of automation in construction, which provides both insights and evaluations based on the context of the research. (3) Three European Union Horizon 2020 research projects were evaluated, and the outcome of the projects served as the backbone for the research and inspired the design of the proposed integrated façade system. Two design scenarios were proposed to demonstrate the potential improvements that could be achieved in a new build as well as in renovation projects. (4) The research lays a foundation for establishing a larger cross-disciplinary collaboration in the future.This research was funded by ZERO-PLUS, from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under Grant Agreement No. 678407. The authors would like to thank to following research projects: BERTIM received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under Grant Agreement No. 636984. HEPHAESTUS received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under Grant Agreement No. 732513