Canadian Window Wall – Design Challenges and Opportunities
One of the defining characteristics of new high-rise residential apartment building design in Canada today is the thermally broken, open-back aluminum frame ‘window wall’ building envelope system. Until recently, Canadian ...
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Thermal Bridging: Ignorance is not bliss
Across North America, we are seeing more stringent thermal requirements in building codes and designers are responding by increasing the amount of insulation in walls, all in an attempt to ...
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Visualizing the Pathway to Low Energy Buildings – the Real Impact of the Building Envelope
Thermally efficient building envelopes have long been recognized as a necessity for low energy buildings in heating dominated climates. Low energy buildings are not only a goal for buildings built ...
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Thermal Breaks and Energy Performance in High-Rise Concrete Balconies
The building sector is the largest consumer of energy in the United States and Canada – approximately 20 to 40% of primary energy use. Space conditioning makes up nearly half ...
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Thermal Performance of Building Envelope Details for Mid and High-rise Buildings (ASHRAE RP-1365)
The reduced thermal resistance due to thermal bridging through steel and concrete framing can have a significant impact on the whole building energy performance. Uncertainty about the thermal performance of ...
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Building Envelope Thermal Bridging Guide
This guide aims to help the B.C. construction sector realize more energy-efficient buildings by looking at current obstacles and showing opportunities to improve building envelope thermal performance. Version 1.2 expands ...
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Guide to Low Thermal Energy Demand for Large Buildings
The new guide aims to broaden the understanding of how high-rise residential buildings can meet stricter levels of performance, such as Passive House, BC Energy Step Code, City of Vancouver Zero Emission Building ...
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Reality of Quantifying Curtain Wall Spandrel Thermal Performance: 2D, 3D and Hotbox Testing
Curtain wall assemblies, large expanses of aluminum framing, are not traditionally known for their thermal efficiency. While insulated spandrels within the curtain wall framing have been used in an attempt ...
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City of Toronto Zero Emissions Buildings Framework
As the City of Toronto adds an estimated 24,400 more people per year, the demand for both residential and non-residential developments is growing. In fact, between 2011 and 2015, the ...
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Balancing the Control of Heat, Air, Moisture, and Competing Interests
The design of a building for either new construction or rehabilitation must consider the control of heat, air, and moisture (HAM) flows. A large number of buildings in the Lower ...
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Building Performance Library
Analyzing how all building systems function together to achieve greater energy efficiency, improved durability and optimized performance.
