Facade System

1) Facade is the exterior face/wall of building.

2) The building façade must be able to adapt to the external climate conditions & indoor
requirements.

3) In controls,
a) Light exposure
b) Ventilation
c) Sound insulation
d) UV protection

Intelligent façade system

1) A composition of construction elements confined to the outer, weather protecting zone of a
building, which performed function that can be individually adjusted to respond predictably
to environment changes to maintain comfort with the least use of energy.
Function of traditional and intelligent façade system
1) Protection from pollution and rain
a) Protect people inside the building from harmful pollutants such as carbon monoxide
b) To shelter the occupants from rain so they will not get wet

2) Protection from glare and solar exposure

a) Protect people from harmful sunlight glare
b) To minimize UV rays
c) Reduce sun exposure and strong sunshine into building

3) Sound and noise insulation

a) Number of openings will affect sound insulation properties
b) Reduced internal noise levels in a building can be achieved by
 Reducing the sound transmission from room to room (internal noise pollution)
 Reducing sound transmission from outdoor sources (external noise pollution) e.g.
heavy traffic

4) Provision of inside and outside view

a) Enable people from inside building to view outside
b) Enable people from outside building to view inside

Function of intelligent façade system

1) Enhancement of natural light
a) Enhanced sun protection & cooling load control while improving thermal comfort &
providing light needed with daylighting.
b) Helps to reduce operating cost by minimizing lighting, cooling and heating energy
required by optimizing the daylighting.

2) Enhancement of ventilation
a) To cut down use of fan and air-conditioning and therefore reduce energy use
b) Natural ventilation can be introduced by operable window and stack-induced ventilation

3) Heat and cold collection

a) Help to cool down a building in summer
b) Retain heat during the cold winter therefore reducing heating & cooling costs

4) Safety & security protection

a) Alarm systems are installed on the building façade to prevent intruders into the buildings
b) Automated security systems linked in with automatic door locking mechanisms & key
card access

5) Generation of electricity
a) Use of photovoltaic (PV) glass as building façade is able to convert sunlight into electricity
b) Building can be sustainable as electrical needs can be supplied by PV glass

6) As a giant billboard
a) Advertisement board
Curtain wall façade system
1) A curtain wall is an outer covering of a building in which the outer walls are non-structural, but
merely keep out the weather.

2) It is non-structural and can be made a lightweight material reducing construction costs.

3) Must be designed to handle all loads imposed on it and keep air & water from penetrating the
building envelope.

4) Designed to resist,
a) Air & water infiltration
b) Sway induced by wind
c) Seismic forces acting on the building
d) Its own dead load

5) Aluminium & glass curtain walls,

a) Typically designed with extruded aluminium members
b) Aluminium frame is typically infilled with glass which provides benefits such as daylighting
c) However, thermal and visual comfort are more difficult to control using highly-glazed
curtain walls.
d) Therefore, special low-e glass (which allow light penetration but reject heat) are used
e) Other common infills include: stone veneer, metal panels.

6) Comfort, convenience and energy savings (Advantage)

i) Made of aluminium & glass can be opened by automatic control to enhance the air
quality of buildings for natural ventilation
ii) Reduce the use of mechanical ventilation system (e.g. Air-Cond)
iii) Able to reduce the building’s running cost as building reduce the use of electricity to
run the mechanical ventilation & artificial lightning during daytime.
iv) Suitable used in warm & hot climate

7) Support for curtain wall

i) This system must transfer back to floor structure or immediate framing both their own
dead load plus any live loads
ii) Live loads consist primarily of positive & negative wind loads, snow loads applied to
large horizontal areas, maintenance load and so on.
iii) 2 ways of installing curtain,
(1) Stick systems
(2) Unitized systems
Double skin façade system
1) The double skin façade is a system consisting of two glass skins placed in such a way that
air flows in the intermediate cavity.

2) Glass skins can be single/ double glazing units.

3) Solar shading devices are placed inside the cavity for protection and heat extraction reasons
during the cooling period.

4) Advantages,
a) Comfort
i) Air inside the system’s cavity is warmer during heating period, hence the interior part of
the façade can maintain temperature that are closer to thermal comfort levels
ii) Helps to provide sound insulation
iii) Helps to protect from glare inside the building by reflecting the sunlight at certain angle

b) Convenience
i) Multi-storey double skin cavity is wide enough for installation for metal floors to be
installed at each storey level in order to make it possible to access to the cavity,
primarily for cleaning and maintenance purpose

c) Energy savings
i) Energy can be saved
ii) Environmental impacts can also be reduced
iii) Reduce the use of artificial lighting as sunlight can penetrate through glazing
component