In 2017, Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico, devastating the island’s infrastructure and killing 2,975 people. In the subsequent investigation, government officials found that while the buildings built according to code largely remained standing, water had still gotten into them and severely damaged the buildings’ interiors.
The disaster sheds a light on one of the most important parts of building resilience—the building envelope. Built to keep the outside out, the envelope ensures that our buildings are comfortable and safe. But the codes behind the envelopes were written for a world without climate change, and extreme weather makes them obsolete.
What happens when old building envelopes meet new weather events? And what are people in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry doing about it?
The building envelope is the physical barrier between the inside and outside of a building, including elements like windows, walls, roofs and foundations. The envelope is responsible for four main functions: structural support for the building, and management of moisture, temperature and airflow.
When the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) visited Puerto Rico months after Hurricane Maria, it found that code-built buildings were generally still standing, but that water damage on the buildings’ interiors had rendered the structures unusable—a failure of moisture management.
According to NIST’s preliminary report, code-built…