Boundary and skin
Ventilated facade
officehospitalschoolpublic buildinghousing complex
An exterior cladding hung a few centimeters from the wall, with an air cavity open at the bottom and the top. The pieces are fixed to a subframe and leave joints that breathe.
What it solves
The outer layer receives sun and rain while the cavity lets any water that gets through drain away and carries heat upward. In the tropics it keeps the wall drier and cooler, away from mold.
Today
Leave the cavity open at the bottom and the top with insect mesh. Protect the wall with a membrane that stops water but lets vapor out. Use pieces that withstand the tropical sun and fixings that do not rust.
Common mistake
Closing the cavity at the top or bottom, so the air does not move and moisture is trapped behind the cladding.
Tomorrow
Hung cladding can be dismantled piece by piece for repair or reuse in another building without breaking the wall. Pieces of fired clay, timber or locally reclaimed material give work to nearby trades.
Fact A cavity of at least about 10 millimeters is recommended so water does not cross by capillary action between the cladding and the wall.
Where it comes from
- 1Traditional barns Norway, of diffuse origin
Layers of timber boards placed outside stone or timber walls protected them from rain. Many of those barns are still standing. - 2Norwegian building research Norway, early 1960s
Øivind Birkeland studies how rain gets in through windows and walls and describes a rain barrier separated from the wall. - 3National Research Council of Canada Ottawa, Canada, 1963
G. K. Garden publishes a study on rain penetration that gives its name to the open rainscreen, with wind pressure equalized on both sides of the cladding.
Masters
- Renzo Piano Central Saint Giles, London, United Kingdom, 2010
He covers the upper floors with 134,000 glazed ceramic pieces in orange, red, lime green and yellow, hung from a frame over the facade. He shows that a hung skin protects the building and also gives color to the street.
Appears in the routes
See also
Also in Boundary and skin
Diagrams and texts by LDB Arquitectura. They are shared under the CC BY 4.0 license, which allows them to be used and adapted with credit to the source.