Establishing the Design Process of Double-Skin Façade Elements through Design Parameter Analysis

The design of the double-skin façade system must consider the interactions between design parameters. The objective of this study is to propose a simple design process that considers these interactions for double-skin façades in apartment buildings in Korea. A quantitative basis was given by selecting and analyzing the design parameters related to the thermal environment. Using the Taguchi method of design of experiments, the main effects of all major design parameters and the interactions between five major parameters were revealed. The results show that the design parameters of building orientation, cavity height, cavity depth, blind position, outer skin U-value, and inner skin U-value, as well as the interaction between cavity depth and aperture size were found to be significant for total load. Based on the variance ratio of each parameter and the interactions between five parameters representing the cavity, blinds, apertures, and glass type, the design process of façade elements that considers interactions was found to be orientation - outer skin - blinds - apertures - cavity - inner skin.