[BIFE Eng ver.] What facade engineers do? 1/3

(1) The goal

 

So far, we have explored the definition of the facade, its history, and function, also the need for facade engineers who are specialized only in facades. In this chapter, we are going to cover 6 main types of works that facade engineers do. The six jobs include environmental analysis, facade structure calculation, thermal calculation, paneling, detail design, and building maintenance unit design, BMU. 

 

Firstly, we will identify the final goal of the facade engineer, and followed by each of the works that facade engineers do in detail.

 

Weighing in between budget and design intent

The nature of facade engineering work is different from that of architects. If an architect is a general director who designs and coordinates the entire building, facade engineers solve the problem starting from the architect's facade design, considering the small details of the technical problems. In all situations, the Façade engineer's goal is to walk a successful fine line between the budget and the architect's design intentions. If you try to make it too cheap, you may become far from the architect's original design. On the contrary, if you only follow the intention of the architect, you can build a building that is too expensive. For Facade engineers, the two conditions, budget and architectural design, are constraints; however, at the same time, they are the driving forces to come up with ingenious and effective solutions. All analysis, calculation, simulation, paneling, and detail design conducted by the facade engineer are all part of the rationalization process by weighing between budget and design.