Nowadays, the thermal insulation of buildings is an integral part of the overall design process. Ensuring the best and most efficient ways to achieve good energy balance in the homes and public buildings, has become a key undertaking for designers. Thermal insulation plays a particularly significant role in the design of new buildings, which need to be prepared for long-term and efficient operation.
As we all know, architecture is a specific art, where functionality and aesthetics accord.
It is often thought that in order to achieve one, we must compromise on the other, and in many cases this is exactly the case. The architectural profession by its very nature becomes a perpetual search for balances between different components. The relationship between thermal insulation and aesthetics does not differ here.
As early as the emergence of the revolutionary modernist style of its time, architects set out to find ways, in which they could elegantly level the building's exterior and interior spaces. They searched for ways to provide complete freedom for the placement of the overall glazing of the facades, which subsequently became one of the most characteristic features of that style.
Over the last hundred years, architects have been constantly seeking simplification of the transition between inside and outside and achievement of the most elegant and minimalist appearance of buildings.
With the increasing and widespread use of insulation methods, mastering this balance is rising in difficulty for architects. Nowadays, when it comes to thermal insulation and breakage of the thermal bridges that create problems in the room spaces, designers frequently opt for methods, which involve changing the height in the layers between the external and internal space.
In some cases, this is dictated by the type of thermal insulation or the way that it is applied. This creates complications in the free positioning of facades and their glazing, in the installation of balcony railings, and in the choice of flooring. In other words, changes in the geometry and heights of the layers most often lead to compromises with the desired aesthetic and functional results.
There is a belief that we must choose between aesthetics and the correct and effective insulation of buildings.
However, there are revolutionary methods in thermal insulation, which eradicate this problem and provide architects with complete freedom to define the appearance of facades and glazing. Moreover, these solutions do not require compromising the comfort of living in the room spaces, on the contrary - they provide more effective thermal insulation than standard methods.
How does Isokorb provide both comfort and aesthetics?
In the standard case, the material, of which the balcony or loggia are made of, has a higher thermal conductivity than other parts of the building facade. This transforms the balcony itself into a linear thermal bridge that damages the comfort of the rooms heavily.
The most common approach to thermal insulation in these areas is to 'dress' the balcony or loggia with thermal insulation material. In these cases, a threshold to the balconies is already formed in the design, because of the change of height in the room spaces.
In fact, the mass method succeeds in the significant reducement of the effects of thermal bridging. However, the condensation point remains, once again, inside the structure itself. Therefore, it fails to eradicate thermal bridging completely, but only delays the appearance of damp and mold.
What makes Isokorb revolutionary, in these cases, is that by applying it to the architectural and structural design of the building, Isokorb takes the condensation point outside of the structure, which prevents heat loss and mold from occurring in the rooms entirely.
Isokorb is installed in the slab, at the boundary, between the interior room and the balcony, and completely eliminates the need to "dress" with other thermal insulation materials and change the levels and flooring of the rooms. With this product, architects can achieve not only a better living environment for their clients, but also absolute freedom in the design of the facade and balconies.
Laying Isokorb would allow, for instance, the living room and balcony to merge seamlessly during the summer season as one complete space without the presence of a threshold or change in heights. In such a case, the choice of a single flooring would further emphasize the effect of this architectural solution, which is entirely possible without the need to compromise on comfort.
Since antiquity, architects have sought ways to find the perfect balance between aesthetics and functionality.
Over the years, the evolution of technology and the needs of the modern man, the architects have constantly sought methods, which would provide them with both of these basic principles of architecture. At such times, technological innovations come to the aid of the modern architect, providing him with newer and smarter ways of dealing with these problems. Isokorb is, yet, another invention that solves a number of problems in both directions with minimal intervention.
?Learn more about Schöck Isokorb HERE.
