Building envelope experts free#

Building envelope experts free#

Private owners and their designers are free to use the Guide as a resource and can develop their own customized documents or simply refer their designers to useful sections of the Guide. It is anticipated that government agencies will devise methods of using the Guide to create their own 'customized' documents to suit their building types, locations and administrative needs and to further their individual design and construction goals. Instead of taking form as a printed document, which would be revised at long intervals, the Guide is made freely available as a 'virtual' information source on the World Wide Web within the Whole Building Design Guide. Its publication and use is meant to assist in the development of uniform design and construction criteria for the Federal government.

This is the first time a group of Federal agencies has developed a set of guidelines to be used for the design and construction of their buildings. Thus a high standard of construction and maintenance is advised to achieve the aims of the agencies involved. Because the guidelines are intended for use in the design of governmental structures, the intent is to provide a long-lived structure based on lifecycle costing since governmental ownership is typical in perpetuity. Though specifically intended for Federal Government agency projects, the information in the guidelines will also be applicable to many privately developed projects-whether of a commercial or institutional nature-which are essentially similar in use and construction to equivalent governmental structures. Special use buildings such as airplane hangers, testing facilities, and stadiums, single family residences and wood frame structures are not included. Other building types include firehouses and police facilities, courthouses, military residences, many types of laboratories, various types of education buildings, hospitals, extended care facilities, clinics and many types of recreational buildings. Typical buildings include administration (office) buildings of all sizes, from a small one-story base administration building to a twenty-story inner city agency office facility. The scope covers buildings constructed of steel, reinforced concrete, reinforced masonry and reinforced concrete masonry units and includes low-rise, mid-rise and high rise buildings.

The National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS)вЂ“under contract from the Army Corps of Engineers, the Naval Facilities Engineering Command, the US Air Force, the General Services Administration, the Department of Energy, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency-has developed this comprehensive federal guide for exterior envelope design and construction for institutional/office buildings. Function, Performance, Design and Construction Relationships.