Add to a growing list of buildings databases FacadeRetrofit.org, whose goal is to provide information about large commercial and multifamily buildings that have undergone or are undergoing building façade retrofits from 1950 through the present.
Currently in beta test, the site was developed by the University of Southern California School of Architecture and the Advanced Technology Studio of Enclos, a façade design and engineering contractor.
The site includes an online form through which users can submit projects. USC researchers will vet those submissions for accuracy and completeness, and gather additional information as required. The researchers eventually intend to develop “precedent” projects into detailed case studies.
As the site becomes robust, its developers anticipate that it will provide a fuller catalog of what drives façade retrofits, such as component or system failure, energy performance, or aesthetics.
Users can search the site by a project’s completion date, including a handful of projects that won’t be done until next year or later, such as the seven-story Herbert C. Hoover Federal Building, which is scheduled for completion in 2021.
Projects can also be found by country, state, city, and building type. Projects are searchable by height, stories, total square footage, and retrofit type (i.e., overclad, reclad, selective enhancement or replacement), as well as by façade design, rating, goals (such as acoustic performance or energy efficiency), activities (like life-cycle assessment or zero-net-energy ready), and systems changes or upgrades.
BD+C clicked randomly clicked onto several façade retrofits posted on the site, and found the information offered to be pretty basic. For example, click onto “Centerpoint Energy Plaza,” and you find that it’s a 53-floor office-residence tower in Dallas completed in 2014. AECOM was the design architect, and the retrofit type was selective replacement. The original building had been a 47-floor office tower that was retrofitted as part of a renovation in 1996.
There are many other projects listed without any information at all other than their names and, occasionally, their floor count. The site allows users to add updated information, and to upload images of the projects.
As the site becomes robust, its developers anticipate that it will provide a fuller catalog of what drives façade retrofits, such as component or system failure, energy performance, or aesthetics. The developers also expect the site to provide users with materials, technologies, system designs, and constructability considerations employed in these projects; a taxonomy of retrofit classification, scope, and scale of the intervention; and pre- and post-building façade retrofit analyses, including energy performance, indoor environmental quality, and even building occupancy.
Last October, the developers received a $20,000 grant from the East China Architectural Design & Research Institute, a leading China-based architectural design firm, with 10,000 design and consulting projects under its belt. The grant came through the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat’s Seed Funding Initiative, which chose this project out of 30 proposals from 11 countries.
Related Stories
Multifamily Housing | Mar 14, 2023
Multifamily housing rent rates remain flat in February 2023
Multifamily housing asking rents remained the same for a second straight month in February 2023, at a national average rate of $1,702, according to the new National Multifamily Report from Yardi Matrix. As the economy continues to adjust in the post-pandemic period, year-over-year growth continued its ongoing decline.
Student Housing | Mar 13, 2023
University of Oklahoma, Missouri S&T add storm-safe spaces in student housing buildings for tornado protection
More universities are incorporating reinforced rooms in student housing designs to provide an extra layer of protection for students. Storm shelters have been included in recent KWK Architects-designed university projects in the Great Plains where there is a high incidence of tornadoes. Projects include Headington and Dunham Residential Colleges at the University of Oklahoma and the University Commons residential complex at Missouri S&T.
Mixed-Use | Mar 11, 2023
Austin mixed-use development will provide two million sf of office, retail, and residential space
In Austin, Texas, the seven-building East Riverside Gateway complex will provide a mixed-use community next to the city’s planned Blue Line light rail, which will connect the Austin Bergstrom International Airport with downtown Austin. Planned and designed by Steinberg Hart, the development will include over 2 million sf of office, retail, and residential space, as well as amenities, such as a large park, that are intended to draw tech workers and young families.
Multifamily Housing | Mar 7, 2023
Multifamily housing development in Chicago takes design inspiration from patchwork and quilting
HUB 32, a 65-unit multifamily housing development, will provide affordable housing and community amenities in Chicago’s Garfield Park neighborhood. Brooks + Scarpa’s recently unveiled design takes inspiration from the American tradition of patchwork and quilting.
Adaptive Reuse | Mar 5, 2023
Pittsburgh offers funds for office-to-residential conversions
The City of Pittsburgh’s redevelopment agency is accepting applications for funding from developers on projects to convert office buildings into affordable housing. The city’s goals are to improve downtown vitality, make better use of underutilized and vacant commercial office space, and alleviate a housing shortage.
Student Housing | Mar 5, 2023
Calif. governor Gavin Newsom seeks to reform environmental law used to block student housing
California Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to reform a landmark state environmental law that he says was weaponized by wealthy homeowners to block badly needed housing for students at the University of California, Berkeley.
Green Renovation | Mar 5, 2023
Dept. of Energy offers $22 million for energy efficiency and building electrification upgrades
The Buildings Upgrade Prize (Buildings UP) sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy is offering more than $22 million in cash prizes and technical assistance to teams across America. Prize recipients will be selected based on their ideas to accelerate widespread, equitable energy efficiency and building electrification upgrades.
AEC Innovators | Mar 3, 2023
Meet BD+C's 2023 AEC Innovators
More than ever, AEC firms and their suppliers are wedding innovation with corporate responsibility. How they are addressing climate change usually gets the headlines. But as the following articles in our AEC Innovators package chronicle, companies are attempting to make an impact as well on the integrity of their supply chains, the reduction of construction waste, and answering calls for more affordable housing and homeless shelters. As often as not, these companies are partnering with municipalities and nonprofit interest groups to help guide their production.
Modular Building | Mar 3, 2023
Pallet Shelter is fighting homelessness, one person and modular pod at a time
Everett, Wash.-based Pallet Inc. helped the City of Burlington, Vt., turn a municipal parking lot into an emergency shelter community, complete with 30 modular “sleeping cabins” for the homeless.
Multifamily Housing | Mar 1, 2023
Multifamily construction startup Cassette takes a different approach to modular building
Prefabricated modular design and construction have made notable inroads into such sectors as industrial, residential, hospitality and, more recently, office and healthcare. But Dafna Kaplan thinks that what’s held back the modular building industry from even greater market penetration has been suppliers’ insistence that they do everything: design, manufacture, logistics, land prep, assembly, even onsite construction. Kaplan is CEO and Founder of Cassette, a Los Angeles-based modular building startup.
