The modern curtain wall has evolved from static wrapper to active building system.

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By Sara Hart

The evolution of the building envelope from static wrapper to a complex, active building system has been partly motivated by the economics of energy consumption and the promise of sustainability. The proliferation of private and public research and development has produced a juggernaut of products and processes. In October 2000, Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology launched an Internet portal—BuildingEnvelopes.org—as a public resource providing state-of-the-art information on innovation in advanced facades, heating, cooling, ventilation, and lighting systems to support preliminary design of energy-efficient buildings.

Photos: © Wojciech Krynski The facade is made of thermally reflective double-glazed units.

Originally supported by its founding industry member, Permasteelisa, an Italian facade fabricator, the Internet project has since developed into a consortium of professionals, universities, and research organizations that support and provide information for the site. The portal and consortium are managed by the Harvard Center for Design Informatics, which is a research center of the Graduate School of Design.

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