This presentation has been requested and scheduled for the AIA National Convention June 11, 2010. As an early viewing of the same presentation, we will briefly review the latest version of The Living Building Challenge 2.0, while discussing envelope opportunities within this progressive framework. The Living Building Challenge is a measure of sustainability far more progressive than LEED Platinum or Triple Net Zero alone. This system does not contain points, rather 20 simple but profound imperatives that is performance based, not prescriptive.

The presentation focuses on a half dozen imperatives, showing what the envelope opportunities are and how they have been implemented on several projects. Those wanting to learn more about skin sustainability and the Living Building Challenge should attend this presentation. Since creating a more sustainable skin design is an imperative charge for the new decade, it is relevant and imperative to discuss this topic.

Sean Scott is a licensed architect with 2 professional architecture degrees currently working at SERA Architects in Portland, Oregon. Sean has 15 years of experience, 11 years of which working on LEED buildings and 2 years working and researching with The Living Building Challenge. Sean is actively involved with 5 committees within the BEC and COTE. Sean’s career focus is with sustainable envelopes as he actively pursues this research through a book authorship called, “ENVELOPE TOOLS”.

Whole-building commissioning is a process of quality assurance in building construction. It is a systematic process of ensuring, through documented verification, that building systems are installed and perform according to the documented design and the owner's operational needs. The process starts at the project Design Development stage and continues through staff training, pre-warranty inspection and completion of the wrap-up Commissioning Manual. This presentation will describe the commissioning process developed by ASHRAE in Guideline 0: The Commissioning Process and NIBS in Guideline 3 Exterior Enclosure Technical Requirements for The Commissioning Process. Emphasis will be place on the importance of the building envelope in whole-building commissioning.

Medgar Marceau is a licensed professional engineer and building science consultant at Morrison Hershfield. For over eleven years he has been providing consulting services in the areas of energy modeling, building science, environmental life cycle assessment and sustainability. His experience includes modeling whole-building energy use, evaluating building envelopes for resistance to heat and moisture flow, modeling heat flow through mass concrete and conducting life cycle assessments of buildings and building materials. He received his bachelor's degree of science in engineering from the University of New Brunswick and master's degrees in applied science from Concordia University and applied mathematics from DePaul University. He is a member of ASHRAE, CSI, USGBC, and is a LEED™ Accredited Professional and Life Cycle Assessment Certified Professional (American Center for LCA).

In the recent construction economy, high performance new building construction has been complimented with prominent energy efficient retrofit projects. In both categories of construction, improved building envelope design and materials are needed to achieve energy savings goals. One important envelope element is a new class of glazing that has entered the market. So-called “super insulating glass” is capable of attaining high thermal resistance by combining a variety of high performance components. Today’s designers can now choose from an expanding range of high-performance glazing systems and technologies including: improved low-e coatings, high performance films, novel spacers and more. This next generation of windows has full frame R-values of 5 to 10 with a similar cost basis to traditional glass packages. These may be installed as replacement glass or in addition to the existing system. As a result, traditional metrics of economic viability and payback periods must be revised. This presentation is a review of key technologies in the field of advanced windows.

Brandon Tinianov – Chief Technology Officer

Dr. Tinianov is a recognized expert in building science and in the creation and patenting of novel construction materials to support global sustainability initiatives. A registered Professional Engineer, LEED Accredited Professional, and consistent Bay Area bike commuter, Dr. Tinianov is devoted to implementing globally sustainable practices in both his professional and personal life. Prior to joining Serious Materials in 2004, Dr. Tinianov provided eight years of leadership to the Building Sciences and Engineering Applications Center of Excellence at Johns Manville Corporation in Denver, CO, where his areas of focus included most aspects of building materials including heat transfer, fire resistance, and noise control. He is also an Executive Officer of American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM) Committee E60 on Sustainability, and a Board of Directors member of USGBC’s Northern California Chapter. As an inventor, Dr. Tinianov has 12 issued patents and holds more than twenty pending applications.

The Building Code defines criteria for air infiltration and structural performance for fenestration products but is essentially silent on the topic of water penetration resistance. The industry standard in the U.S. for determining the water penetration performance for fenestration products has essentially been controlled by the manufacturers of the window products themselves.

This presentation will look at the current standards for determining the necessary water penetration resistance performance ratings of fenestration products both in the US as well as in Canada, Europe and New Zealand/Australia. The various test methods for determining performance, both pre and post installation will be looked at as well.

Austin Sloat, AIA is a committee member of the Portland BEC and is a principal at Neumann Sloat Architects LLP, a firm specializing in building envelope consulting and remedial design.

Many residential buildings in the Pacific Northwest have or are undergoing comprehensive rehabilitation largely to remedy moisture-related problems. The rehabilitation of the building enclosure presents a unique opportunity to examine and assess the actual energy-related performance of the in-service building and to determine the energy impact of the building enclosure improvements (i.e. from increased insulation, thermally improved window frames and glazing, improved air-tightness).

A research project is currently underway with the objectives to review and assess the effects of building enclosure improvements on the space conditioning energy use in typical mid and high-rise multi unit residential buildings (MURBs) and then to develop better strategies that take into account enclosure repairs, energy conservation and greenhouse gas emissions. In some instances, this review also provides the opportunity to look at other changes to the buildings while in service, whether it be occupant behavior, or changes to the mechanical systems (such as the domestic hot water system) and associated impact on the overall energy consumption. The research applies to both new and rehabilitated buildings and has national relevance as the buildings selected for the study have similarities throughout United States and Canada. This presentation will discuss part 1 of the study highlighting the energy use within existing high-rise MURBs and the trends and issues affecting consumption and energy efficiency.

Graham Finch is a Building Science Research Engineer with RDH Building Engineering Ltd. in Vancouver BC. He holds a masters degree specializing in building science from the University of Waterloo and is actively involved with numerous research projects at RDH. Graham has several years experience as an engineering consultant on building enclosure issues across North America. This work has included new construction design, hygrothermal modeling, forensic investigation, whole building monitoring and several industry research studies. Graham’s current research interests focus on improving the energy efficiency of high-rise buildings through improvements in the building enclosure.

The BEC will not have a meeting for the month of October. We will reconvene November 12th. Thank you and sorry for the inconvenience.

As the Director of the Architectural Group of Orfield Laboratories, Wes Chapman is responsible for the development of applications of the firm's Certified Building Performance Standards and Certified Building Performance Measures. Orfield Laboratories is the nation's only multi-disciplinary architectural consulting lab.

OL specializes in acoustics, lighting, daylighting, thermal comfort, indoor air quality, occupancy & design research and human factors. Our consulting is based on occupancy quality as the primary objective in architecture, with sustainability and energy based design being secondary. OL was contacted by BEC due to an interest by BEC in OL's performance based occupancy quality consulting.

There will be a general introduction to Orfield Labs and our philosophical premise as well as an explanation of testing capacities that have contributed to our unique approach to establishing “performance” based building standards that are measurable and certifiable. Wes will also cover several case studies illustrating the effects of the standards on building design. These case studies will highlight the correlation between how building performance standards focus on satisfaction of users and in doing so address energy and sustainability concerns beyond the realm of LEED and other similar programs. The interest we share with BEC is the relationship between the integrity of an exterior envelope and the integrity of occupancy comfort within the space.

Wes will also talk about the Architectural Research Consortium, our new architectural research group, which will eventually include about 100 architectural firms across the U.S. and Canada.

The essential role of the building envelope—providing shelter, form, and image—can be expanded to significantly improve building performance, including major reductions in energy use. Mark Perepelitza, a ZGF architect, will be presenting his research on effective applications of high-performance integrated facades for the Northwest. Supported in part by a Van Evera Bailey Fellowship, the research has included five weeks of travel in Northern Europe to tour buildings and interview key team members, as well as collaborations with Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, the Center for the Built Environment at UC Berkeley, BetterBricks, and the University of Oregon Energy Studies in Buildings Lab.

As shown by Northern European examples, extremely high-performing buildings can be aesthetically compelling with pleasant and comfortable interior environments. Rather than a static enclosure, the building skin has the potential to capture, filter, and integrate natural ventilation, daylight, manage solar heat, and provide visual and physical connections between inside and out.

Uncontrolled moisture accumulation in building envelopes leads to mold infestation and structural degradation in buildings. A 2004 survey conducted by the City of Seattle documented 52 recent moisture-related building failures, costing $98 million (Aoki-Kramer, Karagiozis). This same study speculates that as much as 20% of the multi-family housing stock built in Seattle since 1984 could be affected. The Natural Exposure Test (NET) facility, located in Puyallup WA has been collecting real-time hygrothermal performance data for nearly five years on both traditional and innovative full-size wall systems. Dr. Tichy will be presenting research results from the NET facility.

Dr. Tichy joined the Wood Materials and Engineering Laboratory at Washington State University in 1992. His primary research areas involve development of wood-based composites and building construction systems. Prior to joining WSU, Dr. Tichy was the Manager of Engineering R&D for the Western Wood Products Association (WWPA), Portland Oregon and Senior Engineer of Engineered Systems and Products for Weyerhaeuser Company, Federal Way Washington. For WWPA, Dr. Tichy provided consulting and technical direction for the engineering use of wood products. While with Weyerhaeuser Company, Tichy managed product and market development efforts resulting in several new engineered strand products businesses.

This month’s topic will be the use of infrared thermal imaging on existing buildings to diagnose thermal and air barrier discontinuity and the development of procedures to use this technology as a commissioning tool for new buildings. Mike Williams with White Glove Building Maintenance will discuss how the technology works, its possibilities and limitations and what information it provides to those in the design and construction industry to support the goal of high performance envelopes. Mike will be using images from buildings in the Portland metro area as a way of illustrating these particular issues.

Mike Williams with WGBM (White Glove Building Maintenance) owns a high-rise exterior building maintenance company that focuses on building envelopes. Specifically, that focus includes leak investigations, waterproofing, sealant and elastomeric coatings applications and window cleaning services. Mike has over 30 years experience in the construction industry, with 20 years experience working on building envelopes. A principal part of his business includes assisting architects and engineers on facade/envelope investigations. After the earthquake in Olympia at the Capitol, he provided rope rescue, rope access and fall protection for three months for the state of Washington while the damage was assessed and repairs were made. His recent emphasis on thermal imaging as a diagnostic tool is a natural progression in using leading edge technology for investigating problems on building envelopes.