Facade Technology Resourses
Facade or façade is generally one side of the exterior of a building, especially the front, but also sometimes the sides and rear. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face".
In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important from a design standpoint, as it sets the tone for the rest of the building. Many facades are historic, and local zoning regulations or other laws greatly restrict or even forbid their alteration.
The façade of a modern building is one of the most expensive and important elements of building construction.
Highrise Facades In modern highrise buildings, the exterior walls are often suspended from the concrete floor slabs. Examples include curtain walls, claddings and precast concrete walls. The facade can at times be required to have a fire-resistance rating, for instance, if two buildings are very close together, to lower the likelihood of fire spreading from one building to another.
Whether rated or not, fire protection is always a design consideration both in terms of concern for the subject building as well as for the surroundings, as falling glass can endanger pedestrians, firefighters and firehoses below.
Some building codes also limit the percentage of window area in exterior walls. When the exterior wall is not rated, the perimeter slab edge becomes a junction where rated slabs are abutting an unrated wall. For rated walls, one may also choose rated windows and fire doors, to maintain that wall's rating.
Cladding refer to the application of one material over another to provide a weather-proof layer intended to control the infiltration of weather elements. Cladding does not necessarily have to provide a water-proof condition but is instead a control element. This control element may only serve to safely direct water or wind in order to control run-off and prevent infiltration into the building structure. Cladding applied to windows is often referred to as window capping and is a very specialized field.
Precast concrete is an ancient type of construction material made with concrete cast in a reusable mold or "form" and cured in a controlled environment, then transported to the construction site and lifted into place. In contrast, standard concrete is poured-in-place in large forms and cured on site. Precast "stone" is distinguished from precast concrete by using a fine aggregate in the mixture so the final product approaches the appearance of naturally occurring rock or stone.
Ancient Roman builders made use of concrete and soon poured the material into molds to build their complex network of aqueducts, culverts and tunnels. Modern uses for precast technology include a variety of architectural applications including free-standing walls used for landscaping, soundproofing and security walls. Precast architectural panels are also used to clad all or part of a building facade. Stormwater drainage, water and sewage pipes and tunnels make use of precast concrete units. The advantages of using precast concrete is the increased quality of the material, when formed in controlled conditions, and the reduced cost of constructing large forms used with poured-in-place concrete.
There are many different types of precast concrete forming systems for architectural applications, differing in size, function and cost.
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