This week, SkyriseCities' 'Explainer' returns with a look at double-skin façades, which are gaining popularity as a tool to ameliorate air flow and energy performance in new buildings. Here in Toronto, the technology has not yet caught on, although increasingly high-performance cladding systems are quickly becoming more common. With sustainability becoming a more central element of design and construction, the introduction double-skin façades could represent another step forward. SkyriseCities has more:

Shanghai Tower, image by Flickr user Xiquinho Silva via Creative Commons

A previous edition of Explainer described how exterior sunshading devices, or brise soleils, have the ability to greatly reduce the solar heat gain of a building. When this particular architectural element is used in tandem with a double-skin facade, energy performance is optimized. Consisting of two building envelopes, an outer and inner layer, a double-skin facade creates an intermediate space that serves as a ventilating cavity, supported naturally or mechanically. The system acts as a thermal buffer that moderates occupant comfort, promoting air flow through the cavity and reducing energy consumption by providing heat in the winter and shading in the summer.