Introduction

T he faade is of paramount importance in terms of building performance and is an important architectural element, ranking alongside building site and form. It is not only the aesthetics that make the faade so signi#cant - depending on a series of factors such as complexity, materials and #nishes, performance, and magnitude and location of the project, the faade can account for anything between 15 and 25 per cent of the total construction costs and represent a substantial part of the technical and commercial risk on any given project. The faade is the #lter between the climate outside and the conditioned space inside, it determines the appearance of the building, and its performance relies on appropriate speci#cation, design, and delivery of a multitude of components and systems. The faade/structure interfaces, as well as interfaces between di$erent cladding packages and other special areas is where things always go wrong. Successful projects generally depend

on a high degree of collaboration across the design team and throughout the supply chain. Where the collaboration and the contractual set up is handled competently, value can be added through excellent technical and aesthetical detailing and risk can be managed in terms of cost and programme. The competent people dealing with the faade (or the building envelope) are referred to as faade engineers and the relatively new #eld is becoming increasingly important as part of an integrated approach to design and delivery of buildings. Notwithstanding the impact of facades there is a lack of industry-wide regulation of the professionals in this #eld.

What is facade
The most basic design for a building is a simple box: four sides, a roof, some windows and exit points. Squares and boxes are boring. When designing a building, the exterior is one of the most important considerations. Architects must balance the design with factors involving both aesthetics and functionality.

Etymology
The word comes from the French word faade, which in turn comes from the Italian facciata, from faccia meaning face, ultimately from Vulgar Latin facia. The earliest recorded use of the word is from 1681.

Definition
A facade is the side of a building that faces the street. Corner buildings have two principal facades, while buildings standing next to one another generally have one principal facade. A building's facade

is typically decorative or visually striking, although the term can mean any side of a building that faces the public or any space in front of the building that faces the public.

Types of Features
facade features vary by architect, governing style of the times and function. For example, commercial buildings in the late 19th and early 20th centuries shared common characteristics of having a capping feature at the roof level, evenly spaced and organized windows at the middle level and storefronts made mostly of glass at the lower level. Because the facade is usually the most visually striking aspect of the building, architects tend to use more elaborate and expensive building materials on the facade than those on the sides of the building that do not face the public.

Design Scheme
Local government agencies may require architects to abide by certain guidelines and restrictions with regard to building facades within the city limits. Los Angeles, for example, has a "walkability checklist" architects need to follow. The goals of the checklist are to add and enhance visual interest in the buildings and the overall environment, create compatibility between the buildings and create a fun and safe place to visit.

Facade Examples
Architects employ a number of techniques and styles when designing a building facade. The "Dancing House" in Prague, for example, has curving and bending lines and unevenly sized and spaced windows to create a fluid or moving scene. In contrast, the buildings along the Grand Canal in Venice are stately and imposing; the buildings use stone balconies in the middle level and arches on many of the windows.

Highrise facades
In modern highrise buildings, the exterior walls are often suspended from the concrete floor slabs. Examples include curtain walls and precast concrete walls. The facade can at times be required to have a fire-resistance rating, for instance, if two buildings are very close together, to lower the likelihood of fire spreading from one building to another. In general, the facade systems that are suspended or attached to the precast concrete slabs will be made from aluminium (powdercoated or anodized) or stainless steel. In recent years more lavish materials such as titanium have sometimes been used, but due to their cost and susceptibility to panel edge staining these have not been popular. Whether rated or not, fire protection is always a design consideration. The melting point of aluminium, 660C, is typically reached within minutes of the start of a fire. Firestops for such building joints can be qualified, too. Putting fire sprinkler systems on each floor has a profoundly positive effect on the fire safety of buildings with curtain walls. Some building codes also limit the percentage of window area in exterior walls. When the exterior wall is not rated, the perimeter slab edge becomes a junction where rated slabs are abutting an unrated wall. For rated walls, one may also choose rated windows and fire doors, to maintain that wall's rating.

Modern Architecture using Glass: The Concept as a Whole must Fit

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Posted in Education Published on 17 June 2010 Updated on 17 June 2010

Glasstec 2010: Specialist Article

The use of wide expanses of glass in modern, energy-efficiency focused architecture requires holistic planning as well as multi-disciplinary cooperation between architects, technical planners and facade installers. For some years now glass has characterised modern architecture like no other material. Provided they are incorporated in an overall planning concept in line with their performance potential, glass materials not only characterise the appearance of facades but also make a decisive contribution to the energy efficiency of buildings. Based on experiences acquired with initial major projects involving a high percentage of glazing the aspect of thermal protection in summer plays an especially important role today. Solar protection devices compensate for a disadvantage that often goes hand in hand with the transparency of glass architecture much to the architects regret the undesirable build up of room temperature in summer. The use of the latest generation of coated solar protection glass can substantially reduce but not entirely avoid this effect. In winter these solar gains are desirable by all means but in summer they can result in unpleasantly high air temperatures in building interiors. Optimised Interplay To avoid the undesirable heat build-up in interiors a wide variety of solar protection systems are installed in glass architecture. They are an essential component for the productive interplay between efficient thermal protection, maximum use of daylight and reliable ventilation of interiors. Controlling the complex correlations between external and internal influences on the building in such a fashion that pleasant temperatures prevail indoors throughout the year is one of the biggest challenges for modern glass architecture. Prof. Anton Maas, Head of the Construction Physics Faculty at the Kassel University, elucidated the current issue at the annual meeting of the German Flat Glass

Manufacturers Association in April 2010. He forecast that solar protection in summer would increase in importance while also stressing the performance of windows and facades as highly efficient energy winners suitable for saving massive amounts of heating energy. Experts principally agree that integral planning is required to efficiently leverage the energy and architectural potential of large-surface glazing in building skins. Planners and facade installers must, where possible, already cooperate in the development stages of a project. Only this multi-disciplinary collaboration and the consideration of the given climatic conditions at the location can ensure an optimised interplay of summer-time solar protection, ventilation and heating and/or cooling technologies. New Opportunities through building-integrated PV Building-integrated or to be more precise facade-integrated photovoltaics will also play an increasingly pivotal role in boosting energy efficiency in the future. Although numerous product solutions are already available on the market installed systems can only be found in isolated cases. The reason for this is a lack of consideration on the part of architects something which solar industry experts discovered at the international Solar Summits congress in 2009. Even so PV modules can now be installed as systematically as conventional facade elements made from other materials. Against the background of the recently amended European Directive on Total Building Efficiency facade-integrated photovoltaics will necessarily gain in importance. The Directive requires a Near-Zero-Energy Level for newly erected public buildings from 2019 and private buildings from 2021 with the remaining energy requirements being largely met by regenerative sources. This provision will drive the development of corresponding systems and give architects the incentive to include integrated PV elements in their planning concepts. Even today PV elements featuring the latest thin-film technology can be ordered in various colours thereby providing more design freedom for facades. Prof. Eike Weber, Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, assumes that these new coloured solar cells will bring the desired breakthrough for building-integrated photovoltaics over the next few years. These cells, which were co-developed by the ISE, are based on completely different principles to the semi-conductor technology used so far. Since the technologies for their production are very similar to those already used in industrial glass processing, efficient manufacturing is possible. In addition to their use in new building integration-enabled photovolatics modules also have multiple applications in facade refurbishment. Comprehensive Market Overview Knowledge of the available glass products and their working principles is imperative for realising sustainable, energyefficient glass architecture. Only by considering any glass versions that qualify for a building project can multi-

disciplinary cooperation come up with holistic building concepts that live up to the high requirements made by both legislators and building owners. glasstec 2010 will show what the international glass market currently has in store for this important area of application. Furthermore, the worlds biggest trade fair for the glass sector held from 28 September to 1 October will provide an excellent overview of the latest developments in glass facades. Alongside the Special Show glass technology live, which already presented pioneering products and applications in the past, Messe Dsseldorf has this year given birth to a so-called FacadeCentre involving renowned associations and scientific institutions. In a 2-day conference called Engineered Transparency to supplement the exhibition trade fair organisers in cooperation with the Dresden, Darmstadt and Delft Universities of Technology will offer construction engineers, designers, research and development staff and building authority representatives hands-on information on the latest developments for the structural use of glass. The programme of side events at glasstec will be rounded off by an architects congress entitled Glass is Energy which is organised in cooperation with the North Rhine-Westphalian Chamber of Architects, the Delft University of Technology and Ostwestfalen-Lippe University. Attendance is recognised as continuous professional education. Building 1/Fig.: The glass facade of the Dsseldorf Stadttor is a twin-skin structure. The internal element facade with timber windows that can be opened and the outer glass skin in 12 mm TSG is set off by a 1m wide climate buffer. Air supply and exhaust openings are located at floor/ceiling level. Photo: Messe Dsseldorf

Building 2: The TSG facade elements with bolt back assemblies at Dsseldorfs Stadttor are fitted with inside Venetian blinds on the office floors of the building. Photo: Messe Dsseldorf

Building 3: Twin-skin facade set-up encompassing thermal insulation timber elements and attached glass scales. Photo: Messe Dsseldorf

Building 4: The glass facade elements of the Capricorn Haus in Dsseldorf are multi-functional. Next to each countersash window with integral solar protection there is a 1.80 m high red glass panel. It conceals a facade module with cooling, heating and ventilation functions including heat recovery as well as lighting, sound dampening and interior acoustic elements. Photo: Messe Dsseldorf

Building 5: High energy efficiency of the glass facade does not exclude classic gap ventilation. Photo: Messe Dsseldorf

Building 6: Building-integrated thin-film PV modules in variable colours with fine-lined pinstripe looks for use in back-vented curtain walling. Photo: StoVerotec