Facades-as-a-Service: A cross-disciplinary model for the (re)development of circular building envelopes

Accelerating strategic investment in an energy- and material resource-efficient built environment<br/><br/>The de-carbonisation of the built environment hinges on the use of clean, renewable energy and the conservation of materials and components within circular reprocessing loops. The Façades-as-a-Service research concept aims to accelerate the...

Developing circular building components: Between ideal and feasible

Creating a circular economy within the built environment plays a crucial role in society’s pursuit to become more sustainable. A building consists of building components, such as a kitchen, façade and roof. By replacing building components with more circular ones during new construction, maintenance and renovation, we can gradually make...

Architectural Photovoltaic Application

Today, photovoltaic technology is one of the fastest-growing fields of technology and is becoming the lowest-cost option for electricity generation in the greatest part of the world. Based on IEA projection, the number of households relying on solar PV grows from today’s 25 million to more than 100 million by 2030. Based on this projection, we...

Advancing Transparency: Connecting glass with heat – An experimental approach to the implementation of heat bonding into glass connection design for structural applications

Glass is transparent and that differentiates it from most other building materials. As a result it has played a significant role in the development of architecture, given that its use is not only driven by its functionality as a protective layer, but by its ability to transmit light and hence define spaces. The use of glass has typically brought...

Countercurrent Heat Exchange Building Envelope Using Ceramic Components

Research and development in building envelope design have promoted the convergence of two system types, Thermo-Active Building Systems and Adaptive Building Envelopes, that re- conceptualize the envelope as a distributed energy transfer function that captures, transforms, stores, and even re-distributes energy resources. The widespread...

Coolfacade: Architectural Integration of Solar Cooling Technologies in the Building Envelope

Increasing cooling demands in the built environment present an important and complex challenge for the design of sustainable buildings and cities. Even though the first course of action should always aim to reduce energy consumption through saving measures and passive design; these are often not enough to avoid mechanical equipment altogether,...

Acoustically effective facade

Today’s city centres in European metropolitan areas are comprised of facades made of steel, glass and stone. These hard reflective facades are amplifying the perception of noise sources by human ears in their vicinity. Up to now in building designs this effect is neglected. Thus the number of people harmed by noise is increasing with the...