Integral Facade Construction:

Curtain wall constructions are one of the most applied facade constructions today. Independently attached to the primary load bearing structure of the building they protect the building’s interior from external climate conditions and allow great design freedom. With continuously rising requirements in terms of energy savings the constructional principle has reached its limits and strategies for improvement are needed. Incrementally evolved over time it is closely related to the architectural design and building processes. Based on literature research and stakeholder interviews the dissertation maps out the traditional and craftsmanship related facade design and construction process currently employed. In a next step, future challenges for facade constructions to cope with a changing market environment are identified. A facade function tree is developed and the theory of product architecture is applied to create a comparative basis for analysing different historical and contemporary facade products and systems. The function tree as well as the analysis clearly show how the fragmented market structures has influenced contemporary facade construction and leads to extremely modular product architectures. Numerous case studies for a new approach are conducted and summarised in several matrices. The case studies show how different modular and integral constructional strategies can respond to the future challenges. The pros and cons of different facade solutions, their potential for innovation and robustness in terms of market conditions are investigated. The dissertation concludes that a greater diversity of fa.ade types with a more integral construction is needed to meet the sometimes conflicting future challenges. If this can be realised, a greater diversity of more integral design and construction processes will evolve simultaneously. The role of the different stakeholders will change and a new way of educating architects or facade specialists will be required in order to meet the needs of the future building market: Away from a purely application oriented towards a product architecture driven approach, which clearly includes the implications of facade product architecture on the structure of the design and construction process

Integral Facade Construction

Curtain wall constructions are one of the most applied facade constructions today. Independently attached to the primary load bearing structure of the building they protect the building’s interior from external climate conditions and allow great design freedom. With continuously rising requirements in terms of energy savings the constructional principle has reached its limits and strategies for improvement are needed. Incrementally evolved over time it is closely related to the architectural design and building processes. Based on literature research and stakeholder interviews the dissertation maps out the traditional and craftsmanship related facade design and construction process currently employed. In a next step, future challenges for facade constructions to cope with a changing market environment are identified. A facade function tree is developed and the theory of product architecture is applied to create a comparative basis for analysing different historical and contemporary facade products and systems. The function tree as well as the analysis clearly show how the fragmented market structures has influenced contemporary facade construction and leads to extremely modular product architectures. Numerous case studies for a new approach are conducted and summarised in several matrices. The case studies show how different modular and integral constructional strategies can respond to the future challenges. The pros and cons of different facade solutions, their potential for innovation and robustness in terms of market conditions are investigated. The dissertation concludes that a greater diversity of fa.ade types with a more integral construction is needed to meet the sometimes conflicting future challenges. If this can be realised, a greater diversity of more integral design and construction processes will evolve simultaneously. The role of the different stakeholders will change and a new way of educating architects or facade specialists will be required in order to meet the needs of the future building market: Away from a purely application oriented towards a product architecture driven approach, which clearly includes the implications of facade product architecture on the structure of the design and construction process

Editorial

This issue of the Journal of Façade Design and Engineering is a result of the second façade conference, PowerSkin, held on January 17th 2019, in the context of the building trade fair ‘BAU’ in Munich. The conference was organized collaboratively by TU Munich, TU Darmstadt, and TU Delft. All three universities conduct high-impact research and education in the field of building envelopes. The conference featured a mix of practice and education experiences, as well as scientific contributions, and aimed to answer the key question of the 2019 conference: How can digital tools and methods promote changes that aim towards the decarbonisation of the built environment and the improvement of well-being? The 2019 conference focused on the envelope as an integral part of the building and its energy system, as well as the main driver to create comfort. Thus, the envelope is understood in its condition of being a complex interface to the social, economic, and climatic environment in which we build our cities. The interaction between these topics, the influences they create, and the digital tools that have been developed and used to design and engineer building envelopes are the main focus points of each of the papers published in this issue. We thank our guest editors Thomas Auer (TU Munich) and Jens Schneider (TU Darmstadt), and their respective teams, who have been key partners in creating this special issue

Imagine: Deflateables

Pneumatic structures are thoroughly investigated and developed during the 1960s. However, the energy crisis and aesthetic developments impeded the use of these structures as a mainstream construction method. Nowadays, they are typically used in special areas of architecture and design. Deflateables concentrates on the very limited knowledge of vacuum constructions and develops a range of aesthetic, technical and functional design possibilities. However, very few designs that use pressurised constructions have actually been realised, even right down to the present day - despite the fact that this technology offers simple, positive aspects: the air pressure of the earth can be used as a stabilising and form-giving parameter, creating a specific and inspiring shape. In addition, the very nature of this technology provides varying degrees of thermal and acoustic insulation. Of course, there are weak points such as potential leakage and the need for high pressurisation of the construction; but new material technologies and specific structural concepts will bring solutions to such issues. Exploiting the possibilities of extremely light and energetically active constructions, deflateables are one of the promising fields of architectural and design developments. The chance to create structures that can move and react to requests such as user and climate requirements, as well as formative demands, lifts this topic onto the level of a realistic and usable technology for as-yet unknown design possibilities.&nbsp

Imagine: Façades

Façade technology of the 20th century is related to the dissolution of the massive wall into a separation of structure and façade. Looking at the development of façade technology, after 60 years of curtain wall systems, 30 years of element-façade systems and ten years of experience with the integration of environmental services in double façades, it can be concluded that the peak of optimisation has been reached. No further technical developments can be expected by continuing to apply extra layers for each additional technical function. Understanding façades - or better envelopes - as part of an integral building, we have to see that creating the future envelope has to be done on a ’network’ basis: employing systems - but also methods of thinking - which provide the possibility to develop different aspects simultaneously and combine them as required. The envelope has to be seen as a functional part of the entire building, serving a part of the demand by providing the necessary technologies and qualities. In this regard, we have to withdraw from material and structure-orientated thinking and construction – we have to develop the envelope as a hybrid system: materials, technologies and production processes have to be integrated into the summation and combined into an all-encompassing result. Façades comprise various themes covering strategic, material and technological developments. Aspects such as function integration, networking of elements, new structures and materials as well as the addition of functions to existing structures will be investigated and explained in 85 or so concrete ideas.&nbsp

Imagine: Deflateables

Pneumatic structures are thoroughly investigated and developed during the 1960s. However, the energy crisis and aesthetic developments impeded the use of these structures as a mainstream construction method. Nowadays, they are typically used in special areas of architecture and design. Deflateables concentrates on the very limited knowledge of vacuum constructions and develops a range of aesthetic, technical and functional design possibilities. However, very few designs that use pressurised constructions have actually been realised, even right down to the present day - despite the fact that this technology offers simple, positive aspects: the air pressure of the earth can be used as a stabilising and form-giving parameter, creating a specific and inspiring shape. In addition, the very nature of this technology provides varying degrees of thermal and acoustic insulation. Of course, there are weak points such as potential leakage and the need for high pressurisation of the construction; but new material technologies and specific structural concepts will bring solutions to such issues. Exploiting the possibilities of extremely light and energetically active constructions, deflateables are one of the promising fields of architectural and design developments. The chance to create structures that can move and react to requests such as user and climate requirements, as well as formative demands, lifts this topic onto the level of a realistic and usable technology for as-yet unknown design possibilities.&nbsp

Imagine: Façades

Façade technology of the 20th century is related to the dissolution of the massive wall into a separation of structure and façade. Looking at the development of façade technology, after 60 years of curtain wall systems, 30 years of element-façade systems and ten years of experience with the integration of environmental services in double façades, it can be concluded that the peak of optimisation has been reached. No further technical developments can be expected by continuing to apply extra layers for each additional technical function. Understanding façades - or better envelopes - as part of an integral building, we have to see that creating the future envelope has to be done on a ’network’ basis: employing systems - but also methods of thinking - which provide the possibility to develop different aspects simultaneously and combine them as required. The envelope has to be seen as a functional part of the entire building, serving a part of the demand by providing the necessary technologies and qualities. In this regard, we have to withdraw from material and structure-orientated thinking and construction – we have to develop the envelope as a hybrid system: materials, technologies and production processes have to be integrated into the summation and combined into an all-encompassing result. Façades comprise various themes covering strategic, material and technological developments. Aspects such as function integration, networking of elements, new structures and materials as well as the addition of functions to existing structures will be investigated and explained in 85 or so concrete ideas.&nbsp

Flexible Transparency - a Study on Adaptive Thin Glass Façade Panels

Chemically strengthened thin glass (t < 2 mm) is a material that is stronger and due to its small thickness, more flexible than conventional window glass. As such, thin glass offers the possibility for lightweight and flexible glass façades that could change shape depending on external conditions.  This paper explores this concept and presents an MSc study on the use of this material in adaptive façade panels. The behavior of thin glass in this context depends on different factors. The glass thickness and strength define its bending limits, while the desired geometry and movement affect its overall stiffness and visual outcome. In order to integrate these factors, different configurations of panels were analyzed in numerical models. These analyses showed the importance of understanding the desired movement and geometry in order to correctly define the supports and degrees of freedom of the panel, avoiding stress concentration (particularly on the edges) and allowing for an unobstructed movement of the panel. The development of these analyses resulted in the conception of a design example of an adaptive façade panel, taking into consideration the design requirements developed in the research. Finally, as a proof of concept, a mock-up was built simulating the behavior of the design example developed in this research. Although there is still the need for research to be developed so that thin glass can become a building material, this research showed that this is possible and that interesting results, regarding visual effect, ventilation and dead load reduction (in larger scale, an environmental impact reduction is also possible) can be achieved.  Besides that, using thin glass in adaptive panels challenges the concept of glass as a static material, opening new possibilities for its use

Internet of things for building façade traceability: A theoretical framework to enable circular economy through life-cycle information flows

Traceability is considered a crucial requirement to enable Circular Economy (CE). Product and process life-cycledata can facilitate circular asset management preserving the asset’s value over time and reducing resource consumption. Many scholars point out how the loss of traceability data, lacking information reliability, and unstructured data are still barriers to the widespread application of CE. In the building façade sector, an increased interest on traceability is dictated by a growing demand for environmental product certifications. However, these aspects are often limited to collect data at supply chain stage, thus neglecting a huge amount of information produced during the asset service life. To foster an accessible and life-cycle oriented asset traceability, this research investigates the Internet of Things (IoT) as a potentially disruptive technology for sup- porting information management. The objective of this work is twofold: (i) to identify what façade life-cycle information is needed to promote CE and (ii) to clarify the enabling role of IoT in tracking, storing, and sharing such information. Through a scoping review combined with interviews to professionals, a theoretical framework structured on four key elements (stakeholders, information list, information management tools, and IoT) is proposed to fill the literature gap and support façade industry in the circular transition. Further research will have to be conducted to face the digital-physical integration issues and develop business models able to fully exploit traceability information value

Editorial

Dear JFDE Readers and Authors, This issue is the result of the facade conference Powerskin, held on 19 January 2016 at the building tradefair ‘Bau’ in Munich. The conference was organised in a cooperation of TU Munich, TU Darmstadt and TU Delft. All three universities maintain a facade research and education unit on building envelopes. The conference featured a mix of practice and education related and scientific contributions. Again, JFDE was chosen as the platform to publish a selection of scientific papers. A total of 22 abstracts were reviewed of which 17 were pre-selected. From those, we received 13 papers that had been subjected to our strict double blind peer review process. A final selection of 9 papers forms this issue. We thank our guest editors Thomas Auer and Jens Schneider who have been key partners in creating this special issue. As discussed in the last editorial, we have successfully completed the NWO funding period (Netherlands Organisation of Scientific Research) to start up JFDE. Open Access publishing strongly depends on author publishing fees and the introduction in our scientific ((field?)) needs some more time. In search of a new business model, we proudly announce that we have found two partners wo believe in the relevance of JFDE. The Society of Facade Engineering SFE is a joint initiative of CIBSE, IStructE and the RIBA with the aim to create a forum to advance knowledge and practice in facade engineering. CWCT It is an industry funded centre and a leading information provider and trainer in the field of building envelopes and glazing. Both organisations acknowledge the need for an independent scientific publishing organ which will contribute to the development of the field of facade design, engineering and construction. This support enables us to continue JFDE. We want to thank the publisher IOS Press and especially Mark Eligh to have guided JFDE to the level where it is now. This issue is the first published by TU Delft Open, a publishing house established by the TU Delft Library. We will continue to deliver high quality contributions with the aim of 3 issues per year. Thank you for supporting JFDE. The editors in chief, Tillmann Klein Ulrich Knaac