Building Envelope

• Humans first created shelters to provide thermal comfort and protection from
natural elements, and this still remains a primary objective of buildings.
• The building envelope is the physical separator between the interior and exterior
of a building.
• Components of the envelope are typically: walls, floors, roofs, fenestrations and
doors. Fenestrations are any opening in the structure: windows, skylights,
clerestories, etc.
• When designing the building envelope, knowing some fundamentals of building
materials and heat transfer will help you make the right decisions.
 Evolution Of Building Envelope :

 Envelopes for climate types :

• A well-designed envelope responds to the local climate.
• The summary below shows four common extremes that people design for.
• Milder climates can use milder versions of these strategies, or mix and match.
 Building Envelope

 Arid Climate Envelope

• Arid climates are very dry , and usually hot, but they often have
large swings of temperature from day to night.
• Thus thermal mass on the outside of the building is the most
crucial design strategy to even out such temperature swings.
• For consistently hot locations , it also helps to have high ceilings,
shaded breeze ways , light colours, and day lighting via reflected
light (not direct sun),such as in this audience hall in the Jaipur
city palace.
• Courtyards with natural ventilation and pools or fountains can
provide evaporative cooling as well. The City Palace in Jaipur, India.

 Tropical Climate Envelope

• Tropical climates are hot and humid.
• Therefore , keeping the heat of the sun off is the top priority , as
well as maximizing ventilation—essentially are reflective
insulated roof with walls that pass breeze but not rain is ideal.
• This traditional Papua New Guinean home’s thick light-coloured
thatch roof keeps out the sun’s heat , while open eaves and
porous bamboo slats for walls and floor maximize natural
ventilation.
• The materials are all low-mass to avoid condensation and mold
growth , which can happen with high-mass materials in humid A traditional home in Papua New Guinea.
climates.
 Building Envelope
 Cold Climate Envelope
• Cold climates have many more heating degree days than
cooling degree days.
• Thus maximizing insulation is the key to keeping warm , as well
as using windows for solar gain on thermal mass inside the
building envelope (not outside as in arid climates).
• Part of having effective insulation in cold climates is an air-tight
envelope, avoiding infiltration.
• This Finnish cabin has very few and very small windows except
on the south side, to maximize solar gain while minimizing
losses elsewhere.
• Before modern insulation, thick solid log walls such as these
A vernacular-design cabin in Finland.
provided better insulation than board walls could.

 Mixed Cold / Hot Climate Envelope

• Many “temperate” inland climates actually have two extremes
—cold in winter , hot and humid in summer.
• Flexibility is the key to designing for these climates .
• The Aldo Leopold Centre in Wisconsin , is the first building to
be LEED certified as carbon-neutral , uses deep over hangs to
allow low winter sun in through the windows to heat up a high-
mass concretes lab inside, while blocking high summer sun.
• It also uses a light roof and darker walls to repel summer sun
but absorb winter sun.
• Extra insulation retains heat in winter , but operable windows The Aldo Leopold Center in Baraboo, Wisconsin.

passively cool it in summer.