University of Oregon-Portland
White Stag Building
70 NW Couch, Room 142/144
The essential role of the building envelope—providing shelter, form, and image—can be expanded to significantly improve building performance, including major reductions in energy use. Mark Perepelitza, a ZGF architect, will be presenting his research on effective applications of high-performance integrated facades for the Northwest. Supported in part by a Van Evera Bailey Fellowship, the research has included five weeks of travel in Northern Europe to tour buildings and interview key team members, as well as collaborations with Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, the Center for the Built Environment at UC Berkeley, BetterBricks, and the University of Oregon Energy Studies in Buildings Lab.
As shown by Northern European examples, extremely high-performing buildings can be aesthetically compelling with pleasant and comfortable interior environments. Rather than a static enclosure, the building skin has the potential to capture, filter, and integrate natural ventilation, daylight, manage solar heat, and provide visual and physical connections between inside and out.