A discussion on the necessity of studying fire hazard of buildings with double-skin façade

The environmentally friendly architectural double-skin façade (DSF) has become popular for building energy conservation. However, fire hazard is a concern and so many projects with DSF did not meet requirements in current fire safety codes. Fire hazard in DSF will be discussed in this article. Common DSF design and classifications will be reviewed first. Associated fire safety codes are then discussed. The fire safety provisions might not work to give the expected safety. A hazard scenario on having a post-flashover fire adjacent to the DSF was identified with consequences discussed. Hot gas and flames spreading out from the broken glass of the room would be trapped in the cavity if the exterior glass pane is not broken. Heat and mass transferred along the façade cavity is very hazardous. Associated preliminary experiments on DSF fires reported in the literature are briefly reviewed. Detailed studies on fire hazards of DSF design are proposed. © 2013, Baywood Publishing Co., Inc.