Buildings Façades
“These wet and warm surfaces are also ideal for
growing plants, so you can create a living façade that
changes colour with the seasons, and also provides
natural cooling,” Affleck says.
Architects are more aware of the importance of
using modules to provide greater solidity to the
structure, which can also deliver better solar control
while also ensuring that buildings are self-shading.
Graham Dodd of consultancy Arup says it is now
possible for façade design to be more creative and
less energy-intensive because designers have access
to a wider pallet of materials. “We must look at how
facades can become energy producers rather than just
being passive filters of light, heat and sound. Façades
must be able to pay back their energy debt.”
Arup is developing a tool that helps designers select
façade materials based on their energy performance.
They are working towards greater use of phase-
change materials that are extremely light, but
replicate the performance of more traditional, heavier
alternatives.
The sophisticated reflective properties of
> of the much larger surface area. As a result, heating
The BMW World building, electrochromic shading, for example, put the building
temperatures are also much lower, thereby reducing
above and below, has a steel
in complete control of the progress of energy in and
energy consumption and avoiding condensation. These
frame façade that includes
out of the occupied space. Aerogel insulation is another
sprinkers, heaters and
systems can automatically switch between heating and
electrical services, delivering
developing concept that gives excellent insulation
cooling without any need for system changes.
better heat and cool-air
performance from a very low-mass material.
Interior designers and fit-out teams like this
distribution “If you simply reflect energy back out of the building,
approach because there is no need for radiators, then it is wasted,” Dodd insists. “We have to get to the
Rudolf points out. Having water continually flowing point at which PV [photovoltaic] panels become cheap
through hollow sections in the façade also provides enough to completely clad a building so we can gather
fire protection by keeping the steel members cool, the energy and convert it into something useful.”
although many UK local authorities still seem He adds that façade designers are moving towards
unwilling to accept that this removes the need for a cradle-to-cradle model, eliminating the concept of
many of the fire-safety services demanded as part of waste and learning from nature.“Being less bad is
the planning process. no longer good enough,” he says. “We must get to a
Rudolf argues that designers must recognise that point where we are not throwing stuff away, but are
you can’t heat higher than 60°C with an integrated re-using materials and components – we must design
façade, and that the cooling temperature is limited by for dismantling, not demolition.” l
the dew point.
However, the availability of this type of advanced
design approach means architects can look beyond the
vast amounts of glazing still being used in modern
buildings, according to Make’s Affleck, who calls for
the industry to be more flexible.
“With building design there is never a completely
right answer, but there is definitely a wrong one,” he
says. “People are obsessed with views, yet we regularly
see that the blinds are drawn as occupants desperately
try to reduce the impact of solar glare and to preserve
their privacy.
“We need to use light more cleverly. What is wrong
with blanking out part of the window to improve the
insulation? That way we can improve the building’s
performance and still preserve the view.”
Make is designing façades to work as cooling towers
by collecting rainwater that is then channelled through
the building envelope to create evaporative cooling,
which can work well in conjunction with chilled
beams, for example.
40 CIBSE Journal April 2009 www.cibsejournal.com
CIBSEapr09 pp38-40 facade.indd 40 2/4/09 15:01:12
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