72 | Kit-of-Parts
Plug & Play Facades
A brief introduction to Plug & Play approach in building envelopes
Graduation Thesis by Premith Satish
London based studies by Synovate market research reported that requirements of global curtain wall systems have increased by 10% in compound annual growth rate to about USD 18.7 Billion in the year of 2009. With such large requirements in consideration with data from almost a decade ago, one can determine that many buildings with curtain wall systems as faรงades are approaching their end-of-life expectancy and will soon require intervention. Introduction The graduation project primarily focuses on Faรงade and Climate design. The concept Plug & Play approach to faรงades aims to offer one more possible solution to challenges posed to most of the proposed and existing tall buildings around the world. Where due to ageing facades, the performance of the buildings may reduce. Alternatively, the increase in maintenance costs and utility costs will render the building undesirable and hence cause premature demolition of the facade or the building itself. Ageing of the facade would mean that its performance would decrease exponentially both structurally and in terms of the energy performance of the buildings it is serving. Dilapidation of the curtain wall facades can occur due to the natural course of things when materials such as vapour barrier, waterproofing, EPDM, neoprene, glass and other relevant materials will deteriorate due to seasonal curing, maturity and UV radiation of the sun. In contrast, most of the built structure can ideally last up to another 100 or more years before it fails. It would be unfortunate to demolish the entire building or even the whole faรงade when only a few components need replacing. A prudently designed
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faรงade which incorporates the aspects of disassembly, maintenance feasibility, energy generation and many more considerations will prolong the practical life and performance of the buildings. While comparing the average service life of the materials (Figure 1), the study reveals that different materials have different end of service life. Mixed plastics such as silicone sealant and thermal breaks tend to have a service life limit of 20 to 30 years as per specifications of leading manufacturers. However, in practice, the values of facade end-of-service (ESL) are much less based on the geographical location. And, when the same materials are multiplied overtime (Figure 2a) until the life time considering the facade is replaced every 30 years or so (Figure 2b) for an average concrete highrise building (for example) it can be observed that certain materials overlap. This overlap indicates that the materials could have lasted longer but have been replaced causing material wastage and some materials come short of ESL causing the building to perform poorly.
