A building envelope is the physical separation between the conditioned and unconditioned environment of a building including the resistance to air, water, heat, light, and noise. Building envelope design is a specialized area of architectural and engineering practice that draws from all areas of building sciences and indoor climate control.
The many functions of the building envelope can be separated into three categoreies
1. Support (to resist and transfer mechanical loads)
2. Control (the flow of matter and energy of all types)
3. Finish (to meet human desires on the inside and out)
The control function is a the core of good performance, and in practice focuses on rain control, air control, heat control, and vapor control.
See the
Resilience Handout 140926 for more information.
International Energy Conservation Code (IECC)