Designing the Exterior Wall: An Architectural Guide to the Vertical Envelope (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "The building envelope  the skin supported by the skeleton of the structure, or the monolithic load-bearing wall  mediates the environment and provides security..." (more)
Key Phrases: air barrier system, anchored brick veneer, parapet veneer, United States, British Columbia, Russell Heliker (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

By presenting the basics of building science along with a prescribed set of details, Designing the Exterior Wall helps you understand why buildings fail and how they can be made more durable through design. Author Linda Brock connects the science and aesthetics of building envelopes through the examination of a variety of construction and cladding types. She features details from real world projects in a variety of climates, successful and unsuccessful case studies, and checklists you can use on your own projects.

• Helps you reduce your liability by showing why building envelopes fail and how they can be designed to endure.
• Moves from theory to actual construction by including hundreds of building envelope details from a broad array of projects and climates.
• Integrates numerous contemporary case studies, including Frank Gehry's Experiential Music Center in Seattle (thin skins), Renzo Piano's Rue de Meaux housing in Paris (terra cotta cladding), and Mario Botta's San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (prefabricated brick panels).

Designing the Exterior Wall is a must-have book, whether you're an architect or a student. Order your copy today.

From the Back Cover

An eye-opening guide to the art and science of creating a structure's skin

Designing the Exterior Wall presents the basics of building science along with a prescribed set of details to help architects understand why buildings fail and how to design them to be more durable.

Covering everything from theory to actual construction, this insightful guide presents a thorough examination of a variety of construction and cladding types that illustrate the science and aesthetics of building envelopes. It offers helpful tools demonstrated in numerous actual projects set in a variety of climates; identifies proven strategies and pitfalls to avoid through successful and unsuccessful case studies; and provides useful checklists to assist professionals in the real world.

Designing the Exterior Wall features many recent exemplars of building skins—from big-budget projects by star architects to finely crafted cladding built with more modest budgets—that are varied in form, surface, and colors, including:

• Frank Gehry: Experience Music Project (thin metal skins and amorphous forms)
• Arquitectonica: Western New York at Times Square (glass curtain walls of 1,000 permutations)
• NBBJ Architects: Seattle Justice Center (double façade)
• Mario Botta: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (thin brick in precast panels)
• Miller/Hull Partnership: Olympic College, Shelton Campus (MDO plywood cladding)
• Brand + Allen Architects: Glassworks Condominium Homes (terra cotta rainscreen cladding)

Designing the Exterior Wall offers architects complete and reliable guidance for advancing the design of exterior walls by examining design failures and testing new ideas.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (June 20, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471451916
• ISBN-13: 978-0471451914
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #179,849 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent professional reference, January 20, 2006

By	J.I. - See all my reviews

This is one of the best books on the subject I have encountered. Exterior envelope design is a complex topic. The author does a good job of presenting both basic principles and practical examples.

This is valuable reference to anyone trying to keep up with the science and practice of designing the building skin.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Exceptionally Good, January 18, 2007

By	Abhishek Gupta (USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

- Easy to understand. Well explained. It served my purpose and I think it is a good start for people who want to start from basic and move up to understand enclosures.

2.0 out of 5 stars Good Book, but poorly edited., September 9, 2009

By	O'Toole (Cleveland, Ohio) - See all my reviews

I was very anxious to receive this book, however, there are multiple instances in the book where either the content does not continue to the following page, i.e., page 90 for example. The sentence is cut-off mid-way and does not continue on to the following page. There is also instances where text is written twice, also on page 90. Page 89 there is another instance where the paragraph ends mid-sentence and does not continue on. It's extremely frustrating since I spent $70 on this book.

DO NOT BUY.