![]() The good news is that we know how to deal with relieving angles. Balconies rarely do…previous exception noted. But relieving angles can be an even bigger deal. They go completely around a building and sometimes occur at every floor. Time to get great things from your structural engineer.īalconies are a big deal and everyone knows that. It is not that the structural engineer does not care. Too often structural decisions are made in isolation from the energy impacts. Photograph 4: Toronto At Night – Red is not good… To deal with this is going to require collaboration between architects and structural engineers. This is an architectural detailing problem that involves structural engineering. This is an architectural detailing problem. It seems to me that folks just are not serious about energy. 4 The bad news is that although we know this stuff it is not getting used. The good news is folks are beginning to get it (ASHRAE 90.1) and great work is being done on the research side. Image courtesy of Beodom, Inc., Belgrade, Serbia The R-value of dirt apparently does not impress Serbs. Don’t seem to be many of those in Belgrade either. Good thing in Chicago we have green roofs. The real estate values must be really something in Belgrade compared to Chicago. It can’t be the climate because Chicago is much colder in the winter. I have not been to Serbia recently, but apparently they can afford more efficiency than Chicago. Photograph 3: Belgrade Balcony – Nice view of the Danube River from a thermally broken balcony. Neat, eh? Image courtesy of Schoeck Canada, Inc. Stainless steel has less than half the thermal conductivity of carbon steel. Note the reinforcing rods penetrating the foam are stainless steel not carbon steel. ![]() Photograph 2: Pre-manufactured Thermal Break – High density graphite enhanced expanded polystyrene. I am just dreaming of what could have also been… But in Chicago in a fabulous building like this? The stunning architecture alone ups the value of the building way beyond the cost of the good glass and the thermal breaks. No reason why this could not have been done. 3įigure 1: Section At Balcony Glazing Interface – Take a high performance curtainwall and couple it with a high density expanded polystyrene thermal break and some basic slab water control and you have a beautiful thing. Mostly in Europe, and in Canada, which seems like Europe lately. The thermal breaks have also been around for a while. Triple-glazed gas-filled curtain walls have been around for a while. Also, apparently in Serbia ( Photograph 3) and pretty much anywhere folks care. Available right here in the good ole US of A. How about a true R-5 curtain wall between thermally broken cantilevered slabs? Check out Figure 1 and Photograph 2. And that would have been a beautiful thing. It could have been an example of efficiency not just iconic architecture. Photograph 1g (right): Infra-red of Aqua Tower Balcony - Image courtesy of Dave Robley, Thermographer, Fluke Corp and Michael Stuart, 元 TI/IRT, Fluke Corp.Ĭould it have been constructed differently without the thermal bridges? Without changing the appearance? Sure. Photograph 1f (left): Infra-red of Aqua Tower - Image courtesy of Dave Robley, Thermographer, Fluke Corp and Michael Stuart, 元 TI/IRT, Fluke Corp. Photograph 1c (left): Extended Finned Surface – Aluminum Photograph 1d (middle): Extended Finned Surface – Concrete Photograph 1e (right): Aqua Tower Balcony’s Photograph 1a (left): Baseboard Radiator Photograph 1b (right ): Liquid Gas Heat Exchanger An 82-story heat exchanger in the heart of Chicago 2 ( Photograph 1a, b, c, d, e, f, g). It is a thermodynamic obscenity while it takes your breath away. It is an embodiment of everything that is right and wrong with architecture.
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