Sustainable Façades

Welcome to the third edition of Sustainable Façades, a Special Issue of the Design Strategies Magazine, published by the Institute for Design Strategies (IDS) of the University of Applied Sciences and Arts (TH OWL) in Detmold, Germany. With volume 3, we celebrate the one-year anniversary of the first editions’ publication. The support for the two previous issues has been exceptionally positive. We look forward to refining our processes and results, always aiming to provide valuable content for those interested in the fields related to façade design and engineering, as well as those related to the built environment, e.g. architecture, urban planning, civil engineering, building physics, social sciences, and ecology among many other backgrounds. By the end of September 2024, there were over 2160 reads of volume 1 (published in 09.2023), and over 830 reads of volume 2 (published in 04.2024). In the previous two issues, we published a total of 12 original articles, five summaries of recent journal or conference paper publications, projects developed in two modules of the Master of Integrated Design (MID), and notes about several events related to the academic and industrial network of the IDS and the MID, including the European Façade network and partner universities. Aside from the Editorial Team, a total of 39 people from different academic and professional backgrounds contributed in the first year, most of them with architecture and engineering backgrounds, but also urban planning, interior architecture, and computer science among other disciplines. Some of the topics covered include urban comfort, building automation, structural design, photovoltaics, façade greenery, façade acoustics and soundscape assessment, life cycle assessment, architectural interiors, as well as technical façade detailing and calculation. Additionally, an emphasis on scientific methods for data collection and analysis has been highly encouraged, and its worth noting that three articles published in the first year have developed further into papers presented at international conferences. We hope that volume 3 will add value to this series that we have called Sustainable Façades, with the aim of giving a critical look at the effects of façade design and engineering on the social, environmental, and economic conditions in our cities.