Conceptual Reference Database for Building Envelope Research Prev
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Related Concept
  • building
  • construction industry
  • air barrier
  • capillary break
  • durability: building envelope
  • durability: materials and components
  • envelope components
  • envelope damage
  • envelope design
  • envelope materials
  • envelope performance
  • envelope requirements
  • envelope: interior finish, drywall
  • fungi: mold in walls -- indoor microbial concentrations
  • HAM hygrothermal simulation
  • load on building envelope
  • maintenance, inspection, and diagnose
  • weather, climates
  • Whole building HAM: models



  • Related Articles
  • Active envelopes
  • Annex 32: Integral Building Envelope Performance Assessment
  • ASTM standards related to building envelopes
  • ASTM Standards related to buildings
  • BTP: Building Envelopes Program, ORNL
  • Building Envelope - components and potential problems
  • Building Envelope Research Articles
  • Building envelope: non-conventional designs
  • sketches: Building sketch
  • Centre for Building Studies, Concordia University
  • CIB W40
  • CMHC: Building Envelope Solutions- Theory and Practice
  • Conference: Performance of Exterior Euvelopes of Buildings
  • double facades: history
  • Environmental Chamber at Concordia
  • Future of building envelope
  • Journal: Journal of Thermal Envelope and Building Science
  • Journals for Building Envelope
  • Members of the residential building envelope industry
  • MEWS-NRC/IRC, Consortium for Moisture Management for Exterior Walls
  • National Building Envelope Council - NBEC
  • NBEC Canada -- National Building Envelope Council
  • News brief/Concordia: Building envelope research puts us on the map
  • QBEC/CEBQ - Quebec Building Envelope Council
  • References related to wall

  • Concept:

    envelope

    Building envelope separate the exterior climate from the interior comfort environment. A more positive statement of this by Watt, 1999 is: "buffers or filters external conditions for internal needs".

    The building envelope includes all the building components that separate the indoor from the outdoor. Included are the exterior walls, foundations, roof, windows and doors. Visit This link was checked on Dec. 2006The outer shell for great basics about the related components at How Your House Works

    The performance of the building envelope is impacted by a number of sub-systems, such as heating, cooling and ventilating equipment, plumbing and electrical systems. The interaction of the sub-systems with the components of the building envelope, as well as certain activities of the occupants, can affect the performance of the building envelope

    A building's envelope includes its doors, roof, walls, foundation, insulation, seals, and windows. It provides a thermal shell that, if poorly constructed, can leak energy through every component. The concerns of a building envelope include infiltration, exfiltration, solar gains and heat losses through the windows, internal heat transfer, and heat gains and losses through the ceiling, walls, and floor. [http://www.ci.irvine.ca.us/about_irvine/econ-dev/envelope.htm]

    WALLS (EXTERIOR): Any member or group of members which defines the exterior boundaries or courts of a building and which have a slope of 60”ć or greater with the horizontal plane, and separates conditioned from unconditioned space. Band joists between floors are to be considered a part of exterior walls.

    "A building's envelope includes its doors, roof, walls, foundation, insulation, seals, and windows. It provides a thermal shell that, if poorly constructed, can leak energy through every component. The concerns of a building envelope include infiltration, exfiltration, solar gains and heat losses through the windows, internal heat transfer, and heat gains and losses through the ceiling, walls, and floor. " -- http://www.nrel.gov/buildings/highperformance/building_envelope.html

    Researches

    Currently, understanding moisture transport and improving moisture control in building envelope are the main concerns of the research and industry.

    The residential building envelope industry includes builders, building product manufacturers, industry organizations, specialized design professionals, academics, researchers, code bodies, distributors, and contracting firms that contribute to the foundations, walls, and roofs of buildings. As a subset of the residential construction industry, the building envelope industry has been highly successful in the past decade, one of the longest periods of expansion in the past 50 years. Looking ahead, strong demand for housing and remodeling is expected to continue. -- DOE, 2001, Building envelope technology roadmap: a 20-year industry plan for building envelopes;; JCHS, 2000, State of the Nation's Housing: 2000

    ASTM Standards (more on Standards: ASHRAE):

    E1825-96 Standard Guide for Evaluation of Exterior Building Wall Materials, Products, and Systems

    E2099-00 Standard Practice for the Specification and Evaluation of Pre-Construction Laboratory Mockups of Exterior Wall Systems

    E2128-01a Standard Guide for Evaluating Water Leakage of Building Walls

    More internet resources:

    Homeowner Protection Office: This link was checked on Dec. 2006What is a building envelope.

    This link was broken when checked on Dec. 2006BuildingEnvelope.org offers "an online resource providing state-of-the-art information on innovation in advanced facades, heating, cooling, ventilation and lighting systems to support preliminary design of energy-efficient buildings. A worldwide consortium of professionals, universities, and research organizations support this effort and provide information for the site." (free registration required)

    Building Envelope Councils in Canada

    This link has not been checked.National Building Envelope Council:

    This link has not been checked.Alberta Building Envelope Council - South - Calgary

    This link has not been checked.British Columbia Building Envelope Council (BCBEC

    This link was broken when checked on Dec. 2006Ontario Building Envelope Council

    This link was checked on Dec. 2006Building Envelope Council of Ottawa Region

    This link has not been checked.Quebec Building Envelope Council



    Tidbits

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    Web Links (30): Notes
      This link has not been checked.Advanced Buildings
      Excellent: A building professional's guide to more than 90 environmentally-appropriate technologies and practices.

      This link was checked on Dec. 2006Annotated Bibliography of the Building Envelope
      "list of over 170 reference materials concerning the design, construction, and maintenance of the building envelope applicable to the context of British Columbia including references specific to the coastal climate"

      This link was checked on Dec. 2006Betec-building Environment & Thermal Envelope Council
      a NIBS Council focusing on effective cooperation among public and private interests seeking energy efficient and environmentally responsible homes and buildings.

      This link was checked on Dec. 2006Building Envelope theory by Foam-Teck
      good intro and tips on insulating envleop;

      This link was checked on Dec. 2006Building Physics and Materials - Technical University of Denmark
      "to improve the basic understanding of materials”® properties with the aim of establishing better modelling tools and of providing a basis for the development of better materials, better production techniques and better methods for maintenance and repair."

      This link was checked on Dec. 2006Building Science .com
      "rovides objective, high-quality information about buildings. This resource combines building physics, systems design concepts, and an awareness of sustainability to promote the design and construction of buildings that are more durable, healthier, more sustainable and more economical than most buildings built today."

      This link was checked on Dec. 2006Building Science Insights
      A series of publications arising from a series of seminars offered by This link was checked on Dec. 2006IRC: Institute for Research in Construction between 1982 and 1992. Each deals with a specific topic and provides scientific and technical information of a practical nature for construction professionals, on: Windows, roofs, walls, fire safety, noise transmission, sealants, coatings and protection systems, lighting, general.

      This link was checked on Dec. 2006Building techynologies program - EERE
      research, publications, This link was broken when checked on Dec. 2006list of software

      This link was checked on Dec. 2006BuildingEnvelope.org
      At Harvard, with nice flash intro http://www.harvarddesignschool.org/

      This link was checked on Dec. 2006Buildings Envelope Technology Roadmap- BETR
      ”°DOE releases Buildings Envelope Technology Roadmap, and reports on progress fulfilling Window Industry Technology Roadmap.

      This link was checked on Dec. 2006CBD
      "240 of the 250 Canadian Building Digests published between 1960 and 1990 by NRC's Institute for Research in Construction. The topics reflect the diversity of the industry and cover virtually every aspect of design and construction in Canada."

      This link was checked on Dec. 2006CIB W40
      "To explore the phenomena of heat, moisture and air transfer in buildings, components and materials; ? To formulate laws governing the physics involved; ? To define, measure and discuss the hygrothermal properties of materials and building components; ? To apply the acquired knowledge to the design, execution and maintenance of buildings " By This link was checked on Dec. 2006CIB

      This link was broken when checked on Dec. 2006CMHC's Best Practice Guides

      This link was checked on Dec. 2006Construction Technology Updates
      "..Practical 4-6 page publications for architects, engineers, specification writers, property managers, builders and building officials. " by IRC/NRC

      This link was checked on Dec. 2006Heat, Air and Moisture Interactions
      "Building Envelope and Environmental Control: Part 1- Heat, Air and Moisture Interactions" by M.T. Bomberg and W.C. Brown in Construction Practice

      This link has not been checked.Home Energy Advisor
      Excellent source for homeowers with many well written information

      This link was checked on Dec. 2006IBP- The Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics
      "research, development, testing, demonstration and consulting in all fields of building physics. These include energy saving measures, problems of indoor climate, emissions of building materials, moisture and weathering protection and preservation of buildings and historical monuments. "

      This link was broken when checked on Dec. 2006IRC Publications
      "IRCPUBS includes references to all the publications of IRC and its predecessor, the NRC Division of Building Research, since our founding in 1947."

      This link was checked on Dec. 2006IRC: Institute for Research in Construction
      "Canada's research, building code development, and materials evaluation services, .. issues that have a large economic impact, assisting industry to innovate and develop technologies that are safe, durable and cost-effective. "

      This link was checked on Dec. 2006Journal of Light Construction, JLC Online
      "unbiased coverage of products, materials, and building techniques as well as hands-on management advice". Good articles about all aspects of housing/buildings

      This link was broken when checked on Dec. 2006Laboratory of Building Physics, Leuven, Belgium
      "...research and educational activities in the field of heat and mass transfer in building materials, building parts and buildings, the energy use in buildings, building installations and building acoustics. Also research in urban physics is part of our activities.

      This link was checked on Dec. 2006NREL High Performance Buildings Research
      "improving commercial buildings by ..."

      This link was checked on Dec. 2006ORNL -- Building Envelopes Program at Oak Ridge National Laboratory
      "building envelope research, which focuses on the structural elements that enclose a building (walls, roofs and foundations), and materials research, which concentrates on the materials within the envelope systems (such as insulation)."

      This link was checked on Dec. 2006Publications as IBP
      Publications at IBP

      This link was checked on Dec. 2006Publications at HPO (Homeowner Protection Office)
      Extensive publications to many home related issues and research (HPO publications and This link was checked on Dec. 2006Annotated Bibliography of the Building Envelope

      This link was checked on Dec. 2006Residential Energy Code - Seattle
      10 Chapter, HTML format, interlinked.

      This link was broken when checked on Dec. 2006Technical Preservation Guidance
      This site has a nice description of building components, including exterior envelopes and interior walls, with specific references to historical buildings.

      This link was checked on Dec. 2006The outer shell
      info about "Shelter is the task of a house's exterior shell: the roofing, siding, windows, doors and related components that provide a barrier between indoors and outdoors." at How Your House Works

      This link was checked on Dec. 2006Wall Thermal Performance Calculator
      "an on-line, interactive method for determining the whole-wall R-value for a variety of wall systems and house plans. " byOak Ridge National Laboratory

      This link was checked on Dec. 2006Walls and Infrastructure
      excellent introductory info on building envelope (Foundations Wall Structures Roof Structures), as Structural System, a course suplment.

    Related References (32)
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    A case-based reasoning approach to the designing of building envelopes, by Iliescu, S., 2000
    portable fa?ade unit for teseting
    A configurable smart facade unit for on-site calibration and control optimization, by Messadi, T. and Augenbroe G., 2001
    --------
    Acoustic excitation and transmission of lightweight structures, by Brunskog, J., 2002
    --------
    Air pressure and building envelopes, by Lstiburek, J., Pressnail, K. and Timusk, J., 2002
    --------
    Building better envelopes: innovation and surging energy prices are driving North America's building-envelope sector, by Herzog, L., 2004
    integration
    Building envelope and environmental control - Part 3: Issues of system integration, by Bomberg, M. T. and Brown, W. C., 1993
    --------
    Building envelope and environmental control: issues of system integration, by Bomberg, M. and Brown, W., 1993
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    Building envelopes are part of a whole: reconsidering traditional approaches , by Hendriks, L. and Lindenb, K.V.D, 2002
    --------
    Building envelopes in a holistic perspective, by Hendriks, L., Hauglustaine, J.M. and Hens, H., 2000
    --------
    Building form for cold climatic zones related to building envelope from heating energy conservation point of view, by Oral, G. K. and Yilmaz, Z., 2003
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    Building Physics: 3rd International Conference in Building Physics, by Fazio, P., Ge, H., Rao, J. and Desmarais, G. (Eds.), 2006
    --------
    Dampness in buildings, 2nd ED, by Douglas, J. and Stirling, J. S., 1997
    DB8
    Durability of Building Materials and Components 8, by Lacasse, M. A. and D. J. Vanier, 1999
    --------
    E1700-95(1999), standard classification for serviceability of an office facility for structure and building envelope, by ASTM, 1999
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    E1825-96 Standard Guide for Evaluation of Exterior Building Wall Materials, Products, and Systems, by ASTM, 2000
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    E2099-00 standard practice for the specification and evaluation of pre-construction laboratory mockups of exterior wall systems, by ASTM, 2000
    --------
    Environmental chamber for investigation of building envelope performance, by Fazio, P., Athienitis, A., Marsh, C. and Rao, J., 1997
    active evvelope
    Evaluating the thermal performance of active envelopes, by Saelens, D. and Hens, H., 2001
    curtain wall
    Experimental study of temperature distributions across two curtain wall systems, by Ge, H., Fazio, P. and Rao, J., 2001
    --------
    Final report from task 7 of MEWS long-term performance: predict the moisture management performance of wall systems as a function of climate, material properties, etc. through mathematical modelling, by Mukhopadhyaya, P., Kumaran, K., Tariku, F. and Reenen, D.V., 2003
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    ORME: A multicriteria rating methodology for buildings, by Roulet,C. -A., F. Flourentzoua, H. H. Labbena, M. Santamouris, I. Koronakib, E. Dascalakib and V. Richalet, 2002
    --------
    Performance of exterior envelopes of whole buildings VIII: integration of building envelopes, by ASTM, 2001
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    Pioneering Building Envelope Commissioning to Prevent Moisture Intrusion, by Scott, R., Aia, N. and Macphaul, D., 2005
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    Release of lead-containing particles from a wall enclosure , by Harney, J., Trunov, M., Grinshpun, S., Willeke, K., Choe, K., Trakumas, S. and Friman, W., 2000
    --------
    Remote Wall, A Manual, by Benesh, I., 2009
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    Review and framework for large-scale laboratory studies on wetting and drying of building envelopes, by Fazio, P., Derome, D. and Rao, J., 2001
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    The solar envelope: its meaning for energy and buildings, Building form and environmental performance: archetypes, analysis and an arid climate, by Knowles, R. L., Ratti, C., Raydan, D. and Steemers, K., 2003
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    The wall of the future, Key not speech, by Colomban, M., 1997
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    Thermal performance of light-frame assemblies, DESIGN AND COSTING WORKBOOK A guide to single storey commercial wood structures, by CWC, 2002
    Thermal IV
    Thermal performance of the exterior envelopes of buildings IV, by ASHRAE, 1989
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    Walls and Infrastructure, by Duncheskie, D., Coleman, J. and Oddo, V., 1998
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    Wind resistance of light-frame structures, by Wolfe, R. W., 1998



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