Sustainable Facades – Design Methods for High–Performance Building Envelopes

كتاب قيم للمهندسين الذين رغبون في التعرف اكثر على double skin facade

This is the very first book I've found on the subject that treats Facade design with an integrated approach, covering most relevant aspects and offering very helpful guidelines and insights into good facade design.Most books cover only the structural aspects of Facades, others focus only on the Esthetics and a few others focus on describing case studies, but offering few significant insights into the design process and the reasons whay certain decisions were made in the material selection for the facades to function as a whole-building system.The writing style is very readable without sacricing the quality of the content, and the case studies at the end really tied the whole book together, showcasing the application of the concepts previously elaborated.My only gripe is that I would have wished for deeper information on a couple of the case studies, and the structural aspects of facades were barely touched upon, but overall a great buy. Highly Recommended.

This is a nice book and covers sustainable envelopes (really walls) and provides calculation methods for engineering. The book did not cover roofs nor envelope issues below the ground. Also the e-book didn't make all the illustrations available... So perhaps this is a reason to buy the paper copy. All in all it was readable.

This book quickly summarizes the effects of sustainable thinking and implementation. Good read and reference. I would totally buy this book.

A good feature of the book is the relatively detailed discussions about basic engineering. This is needed in order to have a useful understanding of how a building can be energy efficient. One example are the figures for optimal building orientation. One figure is for a hot climate, like perhaps the American southwest. While another figure is for a cold climate; think Chicago perhaps. The figures describe the best and worst orientations. Information readily and immediately useful to the architect.Naturally, this is relevant mostly for new buildings. And the book cautions that at times the orientation is out of the architect's control. Like zoning and an existing street grid. But we learn that the passive effects of orientation are or can be so important that it is worth at least taking a hard look early in the design.Another section of the text looks at window to wall ratios and how this has dramatic effect on the solar heat gain.The reader should be aware that the heating and cooling of buildings is the largest part of global energy consumption. More than for all transportation, which is what people often guess as the greatest contributor. Hence the importance of this book for future buildings.

According to my daughter, "This is a great book! I believe it is very important to have an eco-friendly lifestyle and practice energy efficiency. Therefore, I am currently studying to be an architect, which requires me to take multiple environmental design and sustainable urban planning classes. This book is an incredible resource that is providing me with important information for my classes regarding issues such as the most up-to-date materials to use in various environments, environmentally conscious design, and latest technological advancements. It is also written in a manner that is easy for the reader to interpret, which I love; so many of the books I have read for classes in the past have been packed with information that is overwhelming and difficult to understand for the beginner. I definitely recommend it."