Building Envelope

Photo by Andreas Lechtape, courtesy NBK Architectural Terracotta

OVERVIEW

The building envelope protects us from the elements, enables comfort, and ultimately allows us to be at home in our houses, to be productive at the office, to learn in school, or to heal in the hospital.

A building envelope—also commonly called a "building enclosure," should:

  • support comfort

  • manage moisture

  • not poison us or the planet

  • allow us to breathe clean air

When possible, it should do all this while using resources effectively—durably, energy-efficiently, and with low embodied impacts.

Here you’ll find strategies for envelope design and material selection that help balance all these demands and more.

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  • Fundamentals of High Performance Building Assemblies

    In-Depth Course

    BuildingGreen's four-part course, designed for architects and builders, provides methodologies for how best to design and manage these details and achieve superior performance—while avoiding expensive pitfalls.

  • Mind the Gaps: Making Existing Buildings More Airtight

    Feature Article

    Leaky building enclosures create health hazards, comfort problems, and high energy bills. Fixing them isn’t rocket science; but you’d better know your building science.

  • Glazing Performance Metrics

    Primer

    A few key metrics are important for understanding the thermal performance of glazing units used in curtainwalls and windows.

  • Cladding: More Than Just a Pretty Façade

    Feature Article

    Cladding materials should be chosen to minimize environmental impacts and help maximize a building’s energy performance.

  • Innovative Products and Technology from the Greenbuild Expo

    Feature Article

    Our product editors pick some winners from the expo floor at Greenbuild 2013 while raising questions about some materials.

  • Designing for the Next Century's Weather

    Feature Article

    How do you create a climate-responsive building in a changing climate? Brand new modeling techniques are helping us figure it out.

  • Better Choices in Low-Slope Roofing

    Feature Article

    There are big differences in environmental impacts of commercial roofing materials, but the biggest variable may be service life.

  • Making Windows Work Better

    Feature Article

    How to choose curtains, solar screens, awnings, and storm windows? The options are dizzying, but the right choice can cut energy bills.

  • Re-Framing Sustainability: Green Structural Engineering

    Feature Article

    Want to design the greenest building possible? Get a handle on the best structural options available to you, and invite a creative structural engineer to join your team.

  • Choosing Windows: Looking Through the Options

    Feature Article

    We ask a lot from windows: energy efficiency, aesthetics, durability, affordability, and more. Which window frame materials and low-e glazing options balance these choices best? This article explores all the options and decodes the performance labels we see when buying windows.