Project Description: The top west-facing seven stories of this ten-storey building are designed with a double-skin façade . Façades on other orientations are conventional single-layer windows. The double-skin façade reduces noise from the adjacent highway towards the west. 

The 12-mm single-pane external skin of this double-skin façade is completely sealed while the internal skin consists of sliding double-pane glass doors. A blind was installed within the 85-cm wide, 1-storey high interstitial space. Fresh air is mechanically drawn from the roof, then passed down to the intermediate space of the double-skin façade through vertical channels at both ends of the corridor. Air is extracted through the horizontal ducts leading to vertical channels situated in the center of the façade . 

During the summer, the blinds can be used to block solar radiation while the interstitial space is mechanically ventilated. At night, internal heat gains are removed with mechanical ventilation. During the winter, solar gains pre-warm the air in the interstitial space. 

The external skin consists of point-fixed toughened glazing and is held by a top and bottom rail. Horizontal air-return duct on each floor. (above)

Reference 

Compagno, A. 1999. Intelligent glass façade s: Material, practice, and design. Basel, Switzerland: Birkhauser. 

Hertzsch, E. 1998. Double Skin Façades. Catalog of Josef Gartner & Co. Munich: Peschke.

Question/Information: eslee@lbl.gov