The latest earthquakes in Europe exposed some critical problems in the connections of cladding panels in industrial precast reinforced concrete (PRC) structures. These connections did not perform as desired, causing the panels to fall, leading to sig...
The building industry is the largest consumer of energy and the largest source of carbon emissions, and the sustainable development of building envelopes is thus inevitable. Among the facade systems, metal cladding materials offer a number of benefit...
The buildings’ surroundings’ environmental exposure conditions (e.g., orientation, location, altitude, distance from the sea, temperature, precipitation, presence of damp, exposure to prevailing winds, among others) have a considerable in...
In order to meet renewable energy goals in the near future, the deployment of photovoltaic (PV) panels on buildings will dramatically increase. The objective of this paper is to introduce an improved design for PV cladding systems that will greatly c...
A considerable part of recent EU policies is currently addressed at developing effective measures to support the transition towards a low carbon society according to the principles and goals of Roadmap to 2050. In this general framework the links bet...
Nowadays, public buildings are clad on the outside, many with stone-clad facades. Energy requirements have changed a lot in the last 20–25 years, and the latest required value of the thermal conductivity of masonry is 0.24 W/m2K. The relevant r...
Building façades represent one of the most critical elements affecting a city’s quality of life, and they impact the country’s economic income by attracting visitors. However, performance data on façades are limited or incom...
Over-cladding retrofit solutions are increasingly becoming a more common method to reduce the energy consumption of buildings in Canada. Simultaneously, extreme weather events, which can induce power outages, are becoming more frequent in an already...
This paper investigates the twisted wind effect on a typical super-tall building (500-m-tall square prism) by conducting pressure model wind tunnel tests. Two twisted wind fields (TWFs) with maximum yaw angles of approximately 30° and 20°, re...
High-solar-reflectivity cladding materials are widely promoted to reduce cooling demand and mitigate urban heat island effects. However, in cold and mixed climates, their overall energy and carbon performance remains uncertain due to potential winter...
An Energy Dissipating Cladding System has been developed for use in buildings designed based on the concept of damage-controlled structure in seismic design. This innovative cladding panel system is capable of functioning both as a structural brace,...
This study investigates a risk-based approach to evaluate the effectiveness of sprinklers in residential buildings to offset the risk premium imposed by combustible cladding (expanded polystyrene and aluminium composite panels) installed on such buil...
Precise meanings of thermophysical processes taking place in air gaps have decisive importance in composite cladding structure systems’ calculation and modeling. The climatic load conditions in Kazakhstan can significantly affect the microclima...
Worldwide, an increasing number of new buildings have photovoltaics (PV) integrated in the building envelope. In Switzerland, the use of coloured PV façades has become popular due to improved visual acceptance. At the same time, life cycle ass...
The prevalence of ventilated façade systems is not only due to their aesthetic properties but also due to the fact they provide mechanical and acoustic protection for the façade and reduce the energy demand of the building. However, it...
Bowing is an uncommon pathology that can affect marble stone cladding of building façades, causing a large permanent deflection and the degradation of the flexural and anchoring strength of the stone slabs, which can lead to the cladding falli...
Hydrophobic materials are among the most commonly used coatings for building exterior cladding. In fact, these products are easily applied to an existing surface, significantly reduce water absorption and have a minimal impact on the aesthetic proper...
An extensive parametric study of the seismic response of one-storey precast buildings with horizontal cladding panels frequently used in Central Europe was conducted to analyse the panels’ influence on the overall response of buildings and to f...
Cool roofs are roofing systems designed to reflect significant solar radiation, reducing heat absorption and subsequent cooling energy demands in buildings. This paper provides a comprehensive review of cool roof technologies, covering performance st...
The automated process of construction defect detection using non-contact methods provides vital information for quality control and updating building information modelling. The external cladding in modular construction should be regularly controlled...
This study investigates the fire behaviour of building-integrated photovoltaic (PV) claddings, focusing on the progression from glass failure to ignition under different cavity conditions. Experimental tests were conducted on two common PV cladding t...
This paper investigates aluminium composite panels (ACPs) to understand the fire behaviour of combustible cladding systems under different fire scenarios. A fire dynamics simulator (FDS) is used to develop the numerical model of full-scale fire tests...
The rationale for this work arose from the urgency of improving the energy efficiency of buildings at the design stage, given the changing requirements of energy efficiency standards such as the Polish Technical Conditions (WT 2014 and WT 2020). This...
The diagnosis of the building’s façades pathology is extremely important to support rational and technically informed decisions regarding maintenance and rehabilitation actions. With a reliable diagnosis, the probable causes of the anomalies can be c...
In this paper, we present an original experimental investigation on a pull-out test of a blind rivet from the external facing of sandwich panels with various core layer materials (polyisocyanurate foam, mineral wool, and expanded polystyrene). The bl...
The evaluation of stone cladding material suitability can be a challenge due to the way that stone physical and mechanical properties, and characteristics such as mineralogy, might influence stone performance as a cladding element in a ventilated fac...
In this paper, a double-skin steel building-demonstrator, set up using panels of five bio-based insulators and a classical mineral insulating material, is studied. The panels used in the demonstrator are made from industrially manufactured and commer...
The construction sector’s pursuit of sustainability, driven by growing concerns about climate change and resource depletion, requires innovative solutions to reduce the energy consumption necessary to ensure thermal comfort in buildings. The in...
Stone deterioration is significantly influenced by the process of salt crystallisation. The expansion of salt crystals on a porous framework exerts pressure on the solid fraction, causing the stone to deteriorate when the internal pressure of salt su...
In the field of civil construction, infrared thermography can be used as a tool for inspection of building elements such as facade inspection. The large amount of variables involved in the thermal flow acting on the facade of a building makes it diff...
The aim of this study was to develop a sustainable electromagnetic prototype to detect the interior deterioration of walls in buildings in order to mitigate uncertainty as it is a challenge to observe the interior state of walls without utilising des...
An approach for the thermo-energy and environmental evaluation of polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA)-based biopolymer coatings in green building envelopes is presented in this study. A boutique hotel designed for Antalya, Türkiye, was selected as a case...
The application of biopolymer materials in cladding presents a promising avenue for enhancing building sustainability, while addressing the limitations of conventional synthetic polymers. Cladding serves a dual purpose of protection and aesthetics fo...
When a building façade does not meet its performance requirements, the integrity and safety of the structure may be compromised, resulting in the reduction of the building’s service life. Ceramic tiles are a commonly applied cladding sol...
Australia’s combustible cladding crisis is estimated to cost approximately $6 billion to remediate. No study has been published which determined the causative factors for the magnitude of this issue. Investigators for the Federal Building Minis...
Façade claddings, as the outer protection layer of the building’s envelope, are directly exposed to environmental degradation agents. The façades’ orientation and their distance from the sea, among other location and protection-related factors, influ...
In today’s construction industry, a topic of paramount importance is reducing energy consumption within buildings. This study endeavors to combine Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Building Information Modeling (BIM) through a multi-objective opt...
The insurance market deliberately excludes the buildings’ envelope from their insurance policies, neglecting all the damage that can be caused by the degradation process or ageing of the materials. This stance is mainly due to the lack of knowl...
Increasing importance is being placed on sustainability worldwide to limit climate change’s effects. In New Zealand, a sizeable increase in demand for housing is driving a residential construction boom, with new dwelling consents increasing yea...
This research results from the development of a global inspection system based on previous studies about individual expert inspection systems for 12 types of elements/materials of the envelopes of current buildings. The research focuses on the ration...
Aluminium composite panels (ACPs) have been used in almost every high-rise building because of their aesthetic and thermal properties. However, due to the nature of the combustibility of polymeric core materials, the fire issue is the main concern th...
Façades, as the most external building envelope component, are subject to different ex-ternal environmental loads, such as: Temperature, precipitation, damp, and wind. Therefore, the contribution of environmental actions to the occurrence of defects...
Previous studies have shown that the effects of climate change on building structures will increase the mould growth risk of the wood-frame building envelope in many circumstances. This risk can be controlled by wind-driven rain deflection, improving...
This study defines the assemblage, lithotypes and mechanical parameters of the building stones used for the external cladding of Prato’s Cathedral and Bell Tower (XIV century), now subject to extensive conservation work. By means of a drone fli...
The typical structure of an optical fiber surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor, which has been widely investigated, is to produce the SPR phenomenon by the transmission of light in a fiber core. The traditional method is to peel off the fiber cladd...
Recent high-profile building fires involving highly-combustible external cladding panels in Australia as well as Dubai, China, and the United Kingdom have created a heightened awareness by the public, government, and commercial entities to act on the...
The 2019–2020 Black Summer bushfire in Australia is a good example of the frequent and severe bushfires (wildfires) observed around the world in recent years. Fire-enhanced winds and fire–wind interactions during those bushfire events hav...
This study proposes a sustainable multi-criteria optimization framework for the energy retrofit of collective residential buildings in Algeria, particularly those constructed between the 1970s and 1980s. Through on-site surveys, energy consumption an...
Accessibility to buildings’ envelope depends on efficient inspection and other maintenance actions of their components. When access to these components is not planned, special means of access are required to carry out the maintenance work. Mean...
Façades account for approximately 15–20% of a building’s embodied carbon, making them a key target for material decarbonization. While bio-composites are increasingly explored for façade insulation, cladding systems remain d...
of 5