By presenting the basics of building science along with a prescribed set of details, Designing the Exterior Wall helps you understand why buildings fail and how they can be made more durable through design. Author Linda Brock connects the science and aesthetics of building envelopes through the examination of a variety of construction and cladding types. She features details from real world projects in a variety of climates, successful and unsuccessful case studies, and checklists you can use on your own projects.
Helps you reduce your liability by showing why building envelopes fail and how they can be designed to endure.
Moves from theory to actual construction by including hundreds of building envelope details from a broad array of projects and climates.
Integrates numerous contemporary case studies, including Frank Gehry's Experiential Music Center in Seattle (thin skins), Renzo Piano's Rue de Meaux housing in Paris (terra cotta cladding), and Mario Botta's San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (prefabricated brick panels).
Designing the Exterior Wall is a must-have book, whether you're an architect or a student. Order your copy today.
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Yes, you can access Designing the Exterior Wall by Linda Brock in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Architecture & Architecture Design. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.
PART I OF THIS BOOK DISCUSSES THE DECISIONS MADE prior to choosing the components of the wall; these decisions are based on the exterior environment, interior environment, construction type, facade aesthetics, form of the building, expected performance of the enclosure, and other envelope requirements. Part I discusses as well selecting and positioning the wallâs components.
The exterior wall is a complex system that includes the cladding and structure, windows and doors, and a series of barriers and retarders that mediate the environment. These must be evaluated in terms of function, durability, appearance, and cost. Selecting and positioning the components is the next step in designing the exterior wall. The components can be grouped based on their primary function, but they often do double duty â a paint may be chosen for both its color and as a vapor-diffusion retarder. On the other hand, vinyl wallpaper, selected solely for its aesthetic value, may inadvertently act as a vapor retarder, making its placement on an interior surface problematic in some climates. Every material has some resistance to air movement, water vapor diffusion, heat transfer, and water ingress. Understanding the resistance of each component and how it is affected by the other components helps to select and position properly the barriers and retarders within a wall, given a specific climate. Long-term performance or durability of these components and the ease of maintenance or repair of the system are also considerations. Although detailing the wall (covered in Part II, âDetailing for Durabilityâ) may modify some of the choices, it is important that the wall must first function as a system.
Chapter 1 Decisions That Affect the Exterior Wall
1.1 INTRODUCTION TO THE BUILDING ENVELOPE
The building envelopeâthe skin supported by the skeleton of the structure, or the monolithic load-bearing wallâmediates the environment and provides security. The structure determines form while the envelope protects. It keeps rain and snow out while controlling the relative humidity of the interior. It stops wind and sun when deemed uncomfortable, allowing passage when desired. Warmth and coolness are regulated by the envelope, as are fire and sound.
The need for shelter is as basic as the need for food and water. Clothes made of animal skins and tree bark, along with the shelter of caves and overhangs of rock or trees, were perhaps our earliest attempt at protecting ourselves from the environment. Protection was needed from excessive cold and heat, rain and snow, as well as from the threat of other humans and animals. Fires, earthquakes, floods, and other natural occurrences presented further challenges. These basic shelters were sometimes decoratedâthe need for aesthetic expression closely followed the need for protection. As humans moved from a nomadic to an agrarian society, it was necessary to protect foodstuffs from the elements.
Today our needs are similar, and while we are less likely to fear the wild animal at our door, we do emphasize security. Creating an enclosure to mediate the environment is a basic human instinct. It is only our level of expectation, combined with the availability of sophisticated materials and complex systems, that has changed.
The Igloo Enclosure
The simple dome of the igloo belies the complexity of this enclosure. The domed form is strong enough to resist the wind and carry any additional snow loads; it also presents the least amount of surface area for the volume enclosed. In the Arctic, blocks are cut from wind-packed snow and laid in an increasingly smaller spiral. The snow contains air voids that serve as insulation. On completion of the dome, a fire is litâor in recent years a gas cooking stoveâto melt the interior surface. The fire is then dampened, and a vent hole is opened at the top of the igloo. The heat from the fire softens the snow, fills in the gaps, and forms a skin of ice that serves as an air barrier. Animal skins might be hung on the interior to increase the insulation and to stop excessive melting from fires. In the Arctic, the size was typically limited by how high the builder could reach, as there was no suitable scaffolding material, although domes as large as twenty feet in diameter have been constructed. 1 The entry to the igloo is located perpendicular to the wind and below the sleeping platforms. Today, tools such as the ICEBOX, manufactured by Grand Shelters, make building snow structures even easier. Positioned on the wall, the box is packed with snow, a shovel at a time. Acting as a slip form, it is then moved to the next position. Eight adjustments allow for the correct catenary shape. This modern igloo has a
(19 mm) vent at the top and can maintain an indoor temperature above freezing with little more than a lantern and body heat.
FIGURE 1.1 A modern igloo under construction. Photo courtesy of Grand Shelters, Inc.
1. Fred Anderes and Ann Agranoff, Ice Palaces (Toronto: Macmillan of Canada, 1983), 16â17.
1.1.1 MODERN BUILDINGS AND THEIR ENVELOPES
Modern buildings can be divided into four parts: the form-giving structure; the equipment and systems that help control the interior environment and deliver services; the partitions and finishes defining interior function; and the building envelope. The envelope, also called the enclosure, includes the exterior wall, the roof, openings within the envelope such as windows and doors, and the foundation wall below grade. Today the engineering professions design a buildingâs structure and the environmental control systems and services. Interiors are often laid out and specified by interior designers. It is only the building envelope that was, until recently, solely the purview of the architect.
It is critical that architects design the building envelope for a number of reasons. As the facade, the enclosure presents the public face of the building. The aggregate of facades, in context, creates our urban landscape. If the facade fails, this public face is compromised. As a matter of liability, the envelope must function properly. Insurance claims against architects involve the building envelope more often than any other building component. As a measure of responsibility on the part of architects to their clients and as a contribution toward more sustainable practices, the envelope needs to be well designed. This responsibility is no better defined than by the following comment from Edward Ford:
The traditional role of the architect as advocate of the concerns of permanence against the concerns of expediency is one from which he or she is often excluded by modern construction practices. Many have been glad to forsake this role. There is a tendency, perhaps growing, for architects to migrate into related, non-traditional fields, leaving behind what they consider the minutiae of the professionâthose issues dealing with constructionâto specialists, to consultants, to engineers, to contractors. It is a practice that is probably in many cases necessary, but if the architectural profession cannot accomplish so simple a task as the correct building of a wall, a window, a roof, or a door, it can hardly expect society to entrust it with a city.1
The design of the enclosure has become much more complicated with the advent of modern synthetic and composite materials, sophisticated new fabrication systems, new methods of construction, trends toward lighter and more economical skins, stress on energy efficiency, and the requirements for a highly controlled interior environment. This is all coupled with a desire for long-lasting buildings and an emphasis on âgreenâ architecture. If architects are to control the appearance of the facade, both in the initial design and as the building ...
