TVT INSTITUTE

Advanced Building Technology

Lecture-I

FACADE

By: Asmamaw A.
APRIL. 2023
CONTENT

o Introducing Façade

o Regulatory Function

o Façade Efficiency

o What are the expected evolutions in façade

technologies and materials?

o Future Façade
 FAÇADE

• A facade is the front of a building

or a side that faces a public area.
• Facade is used literally to describe
a decorative, showy, or ornate
piece of architecture that frames
the front of a building, as in The
architect who designed this
building used a showy facade on
it to help it stand out from nearby
buildings.
• A facade is also a superficial
appearance or an illusion, which
can be literal or figurative.
FAÇADE
Outdoor Regulatory
Functions
• solar radiation
• temperature
• humidity
• precipitation
• Wind
• sources of noise in the surroundings
• amount of gas and dust
• mechanical loads
• electromagnetic radiation
• urban/formative surroundings
• local resources
• socio-cultural context
FAÇADE
Indoor Regulatory Functions
• comfortable temperature/humidity
range
• amount and quality of light (lighting
environment)
• air exchange rate/fresh air supply at
• comfortable air velocity
• comfortable sound level
• visual relationship with external
surroundings
• demarcation between private and
public zones
• protection against mechanical
damage
• fire protection if necessary
• limitation of toxic loads
FAÇADE
The efficiency of a façade
• A facade should be able to handle climate related tasks as
comprehensively as possible because this allows additional
measures such as air conditioning, to be minimized and even
omitted altogether.

• To achieve this design objective, knowledge of the relevant

physical principles is indispensable.

• Supplementary measures with a direct effect can assist this

task on both sides of the facade.

• For instance, it is possible to “activate” other components

inside the building; e.g., by interim storage of energy in walls
and floors.
FAÇADE
The efficiency of a façade
Facade design also calls for a thorough analysis of the following
aspects and relationships:
• solar altitude angle in relation to location, time of day, and
season
• quantity of radiation, depending on orientation and inclination
of surface, location, time of day, and season
• the various types of radiation (diffuse, direct and various
wavelengths) and their magnitudes in relation to weather
conditions, orientation, location, time of day, and season
• the interaction with surfaces and materials
• the anticipated quantities of incident energy in relation to
weather conditions, orientation, location, time of day, and
season
• the relationship of the radiation with the heat requirement
resulting from the intended utilisation.
FAÇADE SKIN TYPES

Vertical surfaces
• Water run-off is not hampered,
folds and projections increase the
external surface area, and internal
edges require proper
constructional and geometric
detailing.
• Acute angles between adjoining
surfaces may cause problems for
construction and utilization.
• The detailing of vertical edges
benefits from the fact that they
run in the flow direction of facade
run-off water.
FAÇADE SKIN TYPES
Inclined surfaces
• Additional problems occur with
every non vertical surface,
especially at projections and returns
within significantly angled surfaces.
• Water run-off is hampered,
accumulations of snow and the
formation of ice lead to additional
loads, larger horizontal surfaces
have to be treated like roofs with
appropriate drainage, the surface
area increases, water-proofing and
insulation layers are “cranked”,
• thus causing weak spots in the
construction where these layers
change direction.
FAÇADE SKIN TYPES

Curved surfaces
• When they are vertical, the
water run-off is not
hampered.
• In many cases it is not
possible to create a
continuous curved surface.
Instead, the surface is
polygonal due to the initial
geometry of the materials
and semi-finished products
used.
FAÇADE SKIN TYPES

Double curvature surfaces

• Such surfaces are not
necessarily only
encountered with
membrane structures.
• Such geometries are often
created as translational
surfaces which can be built
as polygons with individual
flat facets.
FAÇADE SKIN TYPES
• Surface variation and lighting effect
What are the expected
evolutions in façade
technologies and
materials?

• In the last century, all the

major experiments in building
envelopes were focused on
aesthetics and environmental
protection.
• The further evolution should
not just make the facades
protect and project, but they
should think, behave and
perform.
What are the expected
evolutions in façade
technologies and
materials?

• Façades need not just

envelope the buildings, but
they should simultaneously
participate in the structural
systems as well.
• The selection of material and
technology should make the
building environmentally
responsive.
THE FUTURE FACADE
• Future façade can be defined as
fully responsive parametric
façade that are non-static, but
kinetic addressing varied issues
including sustainability, power
generation, vertical farming and
are informative and
transformational,

• The future technologies in

Building Facades which will
provide better efficiency,
aesthetics and commercial value
to the developments addressing
a wider spectrum of issues
covering the following
1. Facades generating
Power – Photovoltaic
Glass Unit (PGU)
• Building integrated photovoltaics'
capture the solar radiations and
turn it into energy.
• A high level of energy generation
(up to 12 percent efficiency) can
be generated through
Photovoltaic Glass unit.
• The advantage of this technology
is that it is allowing the usage of
fenestration part of the building
as PGU’s provides
transparency to the human eye
up to 70 per cent%
2. Thermally Dynamic
Facades – Phase Change
Materials (PCM)
• Façade, which responds in
accordance with the variations in
outdoor conditions.
• Thermally dynamic facades use
phase change material where in a
layer of salt crystals captures the
heat radiated by the sun and
release it back to the environment
during non-operational hours.
• The thickness of conventional
materials used in buildings is
much more than the equivalent
heat capacity of a one-centimetre-
thick PCM.
3. Biomimicry in Facades –
Living Buildings

• Just like the surface of a

leaf, the ‘skin’ of future
buildings may react to
external stimuli, opening,
closing and breathing
throughout the day through
a system of ‘cellular’
openings that allow light, air
and water in the
apartments contained
within.
4. Facades Enhancing
Outdoor Environment –
Microclimate Impact
• Growing vegetation on the façade
can potentially create a positive
microclimate around the built
form.
• A microclimate is a local
atmospheric zone where the
climate differs from the
surrounding area.
• The studies accounts that a
reduction of approx. 2 ̊C can be
achieved by using green vegetation
around buildings compared to the
surrounding ambient in composite
climates like Addis Ababa.
5. Facades Enhancing Indoor
Environment – Growing
Fresh Air
• Most developing countries
have high pollution levels
and as a result the indoor
environment can be even
more polluted.
• Drawing ventilation air
through a green façade or a
greenhouse offers a potential
to counter the toxins, VOC’s,
microbial infections, etc. in
an air-conditioned building.
6. Façade Addressing
Fuel Crises – Building
Powered by Algae

• A classic example of this

technology is BIQ
building algae panels
generating power where
the algae is grown on
façade and burned to
provide an alternate
energy source
7. Facades Addressing Food
Crises – Hydroponics
• The idea that fruits and vegetables
can grow with water, light and
nutrients are the basis of
hydroponic:
• one of the innovative systems of
making the building self-sustaining.
There have been other numerous
advantages of this system as well.
• A reduction is seen in street level
concentrations up to 40 per cent
for NO2 and 60 per cent of
particulate matter.
• They potentially contribute to an
increase in biodiversity in urban
areas by providing a habitat for
birds, etc
ASSIGNMENT
Wight: 40%
Gas Station
Requirement
- Gather Literatures and Standards on Gas Station Design.
- Select 4000m2 Area on Primary Road.
- Research and analyze advanced technologies on gas station.
- Review one local and one international case study.
Expected outputs
- Good understanding on advanced building technologies.
-Full design of Gas Station.
-Details of proposed advanced technologies on the
design.