Development of Timber-Glass Double-Skin Façade Element: Architectural and Environmental Design Perspective

In the face of climate change, the field of architecture and building design has been focussing on the search for sustainable solutions for several decades. The design of contemporary architectural building elements, including façades, is subject to a wide range of requirements in terms of energy efficiency, building protection and environmental compatibility. Among the various types of façades, the double-skin façade performs particularly well in terms of energy efficiency and sound insulation. This is a special type of transparent building envelope consisting of two layers, in most cases insulating glazing and single glazing, separated by an air space. In contrast to existing examples of such façades, this paper shows in its first part the development of a timber-glass double skin façade element, where the first exception to existing façades is a structural frame made of timber instead of aluminium and the second exception is a load-bearing function of the element, which however is not discussed in detail in this paper. The study provides answers to the questions about the possible applications of such an element and, in the second part, about the advantages of the developed element in terms of environmental performance compared to existing elements on the market.