Fundamentals in Façade Retrofit Practice

This paper describes fundamental aspects of building facade retrofit practice using field-based research. A major challenge of sustainability is to require buildings to be resilient assets in a life cycle perspective. Building retrofit, a growing research area during the last decade, finds its fundament on the urgency of decreasing the harmful effect of buildings in the environment, and improving them as healthier places for occupants. For these reasons, facade retrofit is rapidly expanding as a research area. Historically, facades have been modified for numerous reasons, such as fixing failures or accommodating aesthetic trends. Currently, the central role of the facade in building energy efficiency is driving an assessment of the potential impact of widespread facade retrofit as a means to improve building sector energy performance. Two online surveys were performed between 2013 and 2014 among building facade professionals. The first survey was intended to identify predominant broad stroke facade retrofit practices. The second survey drilled down to a deeper level of design and construction, as well as motivations and goals. Respondents were highly linked to facade consultancies, facade contractors, and material suppliers. The results included a high percentage of buildings located in the United States. The information is presented in this paper using descriptive statistics to represent facade retrofit demographics, motivations and scopes, and techniques. This aim is to contribute qualified survey data for a better understanding of the fundamental aspects of current facade retrofits practices.