Integrated Facades

High-Performance Innovations from Northern Europe

The essential role of the building envelope—providing shelter, form, and image—can be expanded to significantly improve building performance, including major reductions in energy use. Rather than a static enclosure, the building skin has the potential to capture, filter, and integrate natural ventilation, daylight, manage solar heat, and provide visual and physical connections between inside and out. As shown by Northern European examples, extremely high-performing buildings can be aesthetically compelling with pleasant and comfortable interior environments. Driven by higher energy costs, codes, and cultural values, Northern Europe has over 20 years of experience working with high-performance facades. 

Supported in part by a Van Evera Bailey Fellowship, Mark Perepelitza, an architect at Zimmer Gunsul Frasca, is engaged in the research of effective applications of high-performance integrated facades for the Northwest. Research has included touring North European buildings and interviewing key team members, as well as collaborations with Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, the Center for the Built Environment at UC Berkeley, BetterBricks, and the University of Oregon Energy Studies in Buildings Lab.

1. Background
   climate, building energy use, and the potential of the building envelope
    
2. Addressing Human Needs
   thermal and visual comfort, visual connections, building operations
    
3. What the Northwest can Learn from Northern Europe
   climate, culture, and technology
    
4. Observations—
   nine design strategies
    
5. Case Studies
   21 Northern European buildings
    
6. Window System Technologies
   glass, framing, shading and daylight redirecting systems
    
7. Analysis
   methods and tools
    
8. Resources / Acknowledgements