34 results

  • Glazed Spandrels featured image

    Glazed Spandrels

    Recent years have seen an increased use of insulated glazing units in spandrel applications to visually blend the appearance between the vision and s…

  • Fully Tempered Glass in Spandrel Applications featured image

    Fully Tempered Glass in Spandrel Applications

    Recent years have seen an increase in the use of insulated glazing units (IGUs) in spandrel applications to visually blend the appearance between the…

  • Terracotta 1912 to 2018 featured image

    Terracotta 1912 to 2018

    Center Three is a 100-year-old, one million square-foot building in Long Island City, New York that was constructed over the course of one year. It w…

  • Teaching Facades featured image

    Teaching Facades

    As facades become more sophisticated and complex, more detail-intensive and performance-critical, it's vital that architecture students develop a dee…

  • 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 p…

  • Seismic Movements featured image

    Seismic Movements

    A common building upgrade to add value to existing commercial real estate is the renewal of the entrance lobby. The lobby facade is replaced to give …

  • Hybrid Timber featured image

    Hybrid Timber

    This case study provides an overview of building hybrid curtain wall system and future opportunities for the use of timber. It will also review the b…

  • Thinking About Facades featured image

    Thinking About Facades

    There have been three decades of liberating developments in the application of descriptive geometry and freeform design methods, as well as the abili…

  • Hardened Facades Effects on Structural Systems featured image

    Hardened Facades Effects on Structural Systems

    To ensure the safety of U.S diplomatic personnel overseas, the U.S Department of State (DoS) has developed facade retrofits capable of resisting high…

  • Adaptable Glazing Shields featured image

    Adaptable Glazing Shields

    Today, about 40% of all buildings in the U.S. still have single-pane windows, and ~70% of the existing building stock is estimated to suffer from und…

  • Contextual Envelopes featured image

    Contextual Envelopes

    Aesthetic and technical capabilities of facade design have become seemingly endless as building technologies progress. While the capacity to address …

  • Facade Wind Loading featured image

    Facade Wind Loading

    Wind induced pressure is a major design consideration for building facades. However, the effects of facade geometry and urban terrain on wind loading…

  • Renewing Two Saarinen Icons featured image

    Renewing Two Saarinen Icons

    Kresge Auditorium and the MIT Chapel, designed by Eero Saarinen and built in 1955, are both world renowned works of architecture and powerful symbols…

  • Shadow Box Design featured image

    Shadow Box Design

    Shadow boxes are commonly used in curtain wall construction, but can be problematic if not designed and detailed correctly and appropriately for the …

  • Fire Safety in High Rise Exterior Facades featured image

    Fire Safety in High Rise Exterior Facades

    One of the most complex yet least understood areas where fire can spread is at the perimeter of a building. Fire can not only spread from floor-to-fl…

  • Verifying Thermal Performance featured image

    Verifying Thermal Performance

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

  • 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 citie…