Angel Ayón – författare

The worldwide use of building envelopes in steel and glass is one of the characteristic features of modern architecture. Many of these pre- and post-war buildings are now suffering severe defects in the building fabric, which necessitate measures to preserve the buildings. In this endeavor, aspects of architectural design, building physics, and the preservation of historic buildings play a key role. Using a selection of 20 iconic buildings in Europe and the USA, the book documents the current technological status of the three most common strategies used today: restoration, rehabilitation, and replacement. The buildings include Fallingwater House by Frank Lloyd Wright, Farnsworth House by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Fagus Factory and Bauhaus Building by Walter Gropius.

Postwar Modernism’s most defining element – the glass and aluminum curtain wall – is also its greatest vulnerability. Designed as thin, industrialized systems, these systems now face failure and potential demolition due to aging materials, poor performance, obsolescence, and rising environmental demands. Preserving them requires balancing building physics, heritage conservation, and real estate pressures.Following a concise history of the modern curtain wall, this publication presents selected case studies – from 100 Park Avenue (Charles Luckman, 1949) and the Pfizer Building (Emery Roth & Sons, 1963) in New York to Great Arthur House in London (Chamberlin, Powell and Bon, 1962) and the Rotterdam Library in the Netherlands (Van den Broek and Bakema, 1983) – and analyzes rehabilitation, overcladding, and replacement as primary intervention strategies for curtain wall renewal.Many detail photographs and drawings prepared specifically for the bookRenewal of post-war mid- and high-rises is a global topicTwenty international high-profile examples