Handbook of Green Building Design and Construction, 2nd Edition

9.2. The Building Envelope

Wikipedia defines the Building Envelope as “A building envelope is the physical separator between the conditioned and unconditioned environment of a building including the resistance to air, water, heat, light, and noise transfer.” The building envelope consists essentially of all the exterior elements of a building, i.e., roof, exterior walls, foundations, windows, doors, and floors of a structure. These elements together form a barrier that separates the interior of the building from the outdoor environment. There are four basic functions of the building envelope. These include adding structural support, controlling moisture and humidity, regulating temperature, and controlling air pressure changes. The building envelope ...