Building Science Digests provide building industry professionals from different disciplinary backgrounds with a concise overview of fundamental building science topics. They were inspired by the Canadian Building Digests produced by the National Research Council of Canada starting in 1960, which in turn drew on a long history of other practice-oriented publications.
BSC Building Science Digests focus on translating theory into practical, usable information. Some address a broad topic such as building enclosure design, while others illustrate the applicability of building science to more specific or specialized issues such as strawbale construction. Building Science Digests are keystone BSC documents, exemplifying the ideas and research approaches that we view as critical to our work
We learn our lessons from disaster. Hurricane Andrew taught us about wind. Hurricanes Charley, Frances and Jeanne taught us about rain. The Red River of the North Basin taught us about floods. Hurricane Katrina had it all: wind, rain and flood. That we will rebuild, and rebuild in the same place, is not in doubt. This is what we do – for better or worse. If we are to rebuild and if we are to rebuild in the same place how should we rebuild?
Ice rinks and arenas are a common building type in many communities. The trend over the last 25 years has been to operate these arenas for greater periods of the year, often throughout the summer. Also, an increasing number of such buildings are being built in areas with warm, humid summer weather. The result has been an increase in the number of reported moisture problems, most of which revolve around summer condensation.
This digest will describe the causes and discuss potential retrofit solutions for summer condensation in ice arenas.
The current building industry focus on durability is in part a reaction to the current perceived lack of it. Warranty claims and callbacks are viewed as increasing. Litigation and insurance costs are felt to be rising as a result. Another reason for the current focus on durability is the recognition that sustainability is not possible without durability. If you double the life of a building and you use the same amount of resources to construct it, the building is twice as resource efficient. Therefore durability is a key component of sustainability.
It seems that one thing that both the development community and the environmental community can agree on is that durability is a good thing.
What do we know about durability and how do we know it? The lessons of durability have come principally out of failure. Engineering is an iterative process of design by failure. Buildings are constructed. Problems are experienced. Designs and processes are changed. Better buildings are constructed.
The building industry is in essence a reactive industry, not a proactive industry. It can be argued that the industry continues to do things until they become intolerably bad and then the industry changes. Examining failures gives us guidance on increasing the durability of building constructions.
