What is facade engineering

What are you reading in this article?

What is a facade?
What is facade engineering?
Who is a facade engineer?
What is the importance of having a facade engineer in the design and construction team?
What should facade engineers manage and plan?
 

What is a facade?

The outer shell of the building and everything that surrounds the building, which is called the building envelope and can be examined in the following two ways:

1- Exteriorview
2- Interior view
 

The facade is an integral part of the whole design and should not be considered a separate component, the facade is not a separate component of the entire design process. In other words, the facade is created simultaneously with all the components, such as the formation of a baby that initially contains all the components . (In the following articles, we will talk about the facade in more detail)

What is facade engineering?

Facade engineering  is a collection of art, science and techniques to solve the aesthetic, environmental and structural problems of building facades to achieve valuable and sustainable coverage. These buildings and structures can be in the pre-construction position or during construction or under construction. It is he who expands the scope of facade engineering activities.)

 

Who is a facade engineer?
 

The main background is for building facade engineers, but it covers more areas. Facade engineering is a job in every sense of the word that is completely related to the field of construction and production, and facade engineers should have this background in the field of industry and beauty more than other engineers. Because what is seen of the building in the first place is the facade of the building, so in terms of aesthetics with architectural engineers can almost be equal or even more than them.

What is the importance of having a facade engineer in the design and construction team?
 

From the first day, a person named Engineer Nema should be in the design team, because otherwise, we will face big problems while working. For example: without a facade engineer, the amount of retreat of the building structure and the progress of the facade out of the building is not calculated. Numbers are always given experimentally, and buildings that are on the side of the street and may exceed the municipal floor and ceiling may be fined or even demolished. These issues are one of the benefits of having a facade engineer on the architectural team.

What should facade engineers manage and plan?
 

1.Climate and Weather (Weather tightness)

The first thing that the facade engineer deals with is the climate, because at the forefront are issues related to the weather and the comfort of the building, the shell of the building. The building is actually what is inside the shell.
 

2. Structural behavior
 

It has a structural structure that has its own special behaviors and can be studied with the knowledge of civil engineering, but it also has its own special behaviors that are in the same field of knowledge, with special attention to the facade structure.
 

3. Interaction with the primary structure
 

We must remember that the facade is not a static structure. It is an additional structure and must transfer its load and its own force to the main structure in the shortest possible distance. If the main structure is stable and static, the facade is static in nature. (That is, the building is not going to be demolished and the facade of the building will not remain in place.)
 

4. Receiving and wasting heat from the facade (Thermal gains and losses through the façade)
 

The shell is not only a waste, but can also be a receiver, which is one of the new topics that we will discuss in the following in the discussion of facade and energy and fuel consumption.
 

5. Occupant comfort and energy efficiency
 

There is a lot of discussion about this issue in different countries, but in Iran this issue is of little importance. If the temperature range is a few degrees higher or lower, it can greatly reduce or increase energy consumption, which in general can hit the country's economy a lot or help a lot. In France, for example, this range has been increased over the years, ie if according to some definitions it was 20 to 25 degrees, this range has reached 18 to 28 degrees, which in 28 seasons is 28 degrees of comfort and the minimum temperature is 18 degrees.
 

6. Shading
 

This is so important that it can carry the load of many other parts in terms of thermal comfort.
 

7. Condensation
 

Almost no attention is paid to the condensate section. In the engineering community, even in national buildings, we see this neglected.
 

8. Ventilation
 

It may be said here that ventilation is the responsibility of installation engineers; But ventilation is really one of the duties of a facade engineer because it can be done from the wall of the building, to find a solution for it, and to provide the possibility that we can do ventilation from somewhere, and it is very important.
 

9. Durability
 

In terms of durability, sustainability (which does not only mean structural stability) is a very philosophical and large concept that all engineers in different parts are involved with. It is a universal protocol that must be found for sustainable development, and this sustainability has a clear definition in the building and facade, which is one of the duties of facade engineers.
 

10. Use of natural light (Natural light admittance)
 

It is extremely important.
 

11. Fire (Fire behavior of the building envelope)
 

A fire that we see every day with problems relying on the facade that is not only related to Iran, and in a developed country like England in 2017, a fire broke out in the Grenfell Tower, which was a fire that spread from the facade and the facade caused The building completely engulfed in fire and left many dead. In Iran, we regularly hear about fire-related issues that spread through the facade, which is very important.
 

12. Acoustic performance
 

This is one of the points that we do not see any trace of in engineering work in the country, and the definitions are relative and descriptive. The acoustics that we should have in terms of sound include scientific definitions and very accurate measurements. Have you ever come across a building that says specifically that we need, for example, 35 decibels of sound reduction and that the facade shell offers a certain amount of sound? Probably not. We just say descriptively that this window or this view is very good, it reduces the sound or it transmits the sound very badly. But the knowledge of this work exists in the world and in Iran, and engineers must want to put this knowledge into practice; Especially in the case of building shells. Because the path of noise pollution is from the inside of the building shell.Although we have a lot of acoustic issues from the inside out, some of which are related to facade engineering, external noise pollution is very, very important and needs to be thoroughly scientifically and accurately investigated using precise numbers.
 

13. Safety and serviceability (Safety and serviceability) Security (Security)

 

These two issues are different. Security means preventing theft and so on.
 

14. Maintenance and buildability
 

This is something that we may think is the responsibility of another person and we are not the ones who should provide this possibility and capability. For example, washing the facade. It is usually thought that someone will come and clean the facade on their own or that it will not get dirty at all! For example, in the south of the country, the volume of fine dust pollution is a major problem, and in Tehran, soot. These problems exist in most major cities