Sustainability is too often seen as an afterthought to how we design and construct buildings.

Prefabricated exterior walls are changing the game in construction by providing customized constructability solutions.

It’s time to move deep energy retrofits from promising principle to conventional practice with a holistic, envelope-first approach.

Clear procedures should be established in order to create integrated project teams that understand the goals of the project.

One of the ways the design, engineering and construction teams met the City of Vancouver’s new stringent energy requirements was by using structural thermal breaks to prevent thermal bridging at balconies, eyebrows, parapets and planter walls. 

The envelope backstop was introduced by policymakers to limit how far building enclosure thermal performance can stray from the envelope prescriptive requirements.

EIA’s most recent data reports that energy-efficient, multi-paned windows are featured in 60 percent of U.S. buildings, which account for 75 percent of commercial floorspace. This presents a significant opportunity to improve existing buildings and to construct new buildings with energy-efficient daylight openings, including polycarbonate glazing and wall systems.

As corporate commitments to sustainability initiatives continue to gain momentum across the globe, there’s a growing focus on energy conservation.

The COVID-19 pandemic has shifted expectations in nearly all aspects of our lives. Whether in work, school, or leisure, we’ve collectively been forced to adapt new habits and ways of thinking.

Whole-building pressurization testing is becoming standard practice for building projects. Many common energy conservation standards and model codes now exhibit requirements for enclosure airtightness, which are to be achieved through measured air leakage rates.

As some of us make the shift from working from home to heading back to an office space, it leads me to wonder what the offices of the future will look like. There’s no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic has altered our entire way of life. It’s definitely altered how we’ll design public places too.

Low-slope membrane roof system metal edge securement, except gutters, shall be designed and installed for wind loads in accordance with Chapter 16 and tested for resistance in accordance with ANSI/SPRI ES-1, except the basic wind speed shall be determined from Figure 1609.

The profile of specific components, their configuration or sequencing, can vary with the roof system, climatic differences, and regional or area practices.