high Performance Enclosures : Design Guide for Institutional, Commercial and Industrial Buildings in Cold Climates provides guidance for architects and building enclosure engineers working to meet the growing need for buildings that have significantly lower operational energy consumption. John Straube addresses a range of practical questions about low energy building enclosures that save energy while simultaneously improving durability, comfort, and rain control: How much of an impact can the enclosure, massing, and orientation have? How much glazing is appropriate and what options are available? How much does thermal bridging matter and how can it be minimized at difficult structural details? How does one detail thick layers of continuous insulation outside of steel stud walls? Can layers of insulating sheathing reduce the risk of moisture damage?--COVER.

Constructing Building Enclosures investigates and interrogates tensions that arose between the disciplines of architecture and engineering as they wrestled with technology and building cultures that evolved to deliver structures in the modern era. At the center of this history are inventive architects, engineers and projects that did not settle for conventional solutions, technologies and methods. Comprised of thirteen original essays by interdisciplinary scholars, this collection offers a critical look at the development and the purpose of building technology within a design framework. Through two distinct sections, the contributions first challenge notions of the boundaries between architecture, engineering and construction. The authors then investigate twentieth-century building projects, exploring technological and aesthetic boundaries of postwar modernism and uncovering lessons relevant to enclosure design that are typically overlooked. Projects include Louis Kahn’s Weiss House, Minoru Yamasaki’s Science Center, Sigurd Lewerentz’s Chapel of Hope and more. An important read for students, educators and researchers within architectural history, construction history, building technology and design, this volume sets out to disrupt common assumptions of how we understand this history.

In the climate-controlled buildings of today, moisture problemsaffect not only the useable life expectancy of the structure, butthe comfort and health of the occupants. This reference is thefirst to apply up-to-date moisture control and treatment techniquesin a problem/solution format. Opening with an introductoryexplanation of the nature and causes of mold, mildew, andcondensation, the book gives specific advice on heated, cooled, andcombination environments, plus a short course in the dynamics ofmoisture movement within buildings. Other invaluable coverageincludes: * clear, detailed recommended practices for all United Statesclimates * practices for cooling as well as heating climates (often, heatingclimate solutions are applied in cooling climates, where problemsand solutions are completely different) * an overall, systematic view of moisture problems--including howmechanical systems and occupant lifestyles can create and alsoresolve moisture problems * actual case studies of buildings with moisture problems thatillustrate the principles and practices presented in the book This detailed, no-nonsense exploration of moisture cause andeffect--as well as its protection and remediation--will expandreaders' knowledge on this crucial subject. Moisture ControlHandbook will be welcomed by building contractors, architects,mechanical engineers, building science researchers, buildingproduct manufacturers, homeowners, and small commercial buildingowners.

Integrate the best building envelope construction methods, materials science, and structural principles in your work using this book as a resource to help you... With more than seventy significant case studies located in North America, South America, Europe, and Asia from prehistory to the present, this book illuminates the theory and techniques of assembling exteriors. Six chapters organized by wall types, from hand-set monolithic walls to digitally fabricated curtain walls, each have a material focus section to help you understand their intrinsic properties so that you can decide which will best keep the weather out of your building. Examples from the ancient world, including the Pyramids and the Great Wall, through a range of renowned modern architects, such as Studio Gang, Sauerbruch Hutton, Herzog and deMeuron, and Rafael Moneo, illustrate how significant works in the history of architecture explored innovative use of materials – stone, brick, concrete, glass, and aluminium. Along the way, principles of construction from masonry and basic framing through ever more sophisticated envelope systems address classic problems presented by gravity, wind, rain, and sun with studies of lateral forces, building movements and materials that bridge the gaps in between them.

"The Builder's Guide provides the building industry with the latest and best practical information on how to apply building science principles to structures as systems in mixed-humid climate regions."--Publisher's website.