Fire Resilience Framework for Facade Design

Over het initiatief / About the initiative

In welke fase zit jouw initiatief? / In what stage is your initiative?

Uitgewerkt conceptfase

Heb je jouw initiatief al gevalideerd? / Did you validate your initiative?

I validated my framework by comparing its simulation results and resilience scores with existing literature on façade fire performance, and they lined up well, showing the model works as expected. However, to make it even better, I’d need to run real fire tests, like those using BS 8414 standards, and compare the simulation results to actual test data. This would ensure the framework accurately captures real-world fire behavior and recovery, strengthening its reliability for practical use.

Meer informatie over jouw initiatief / More info about your initiative

Right now, fire safety for façades isn’t properly integrated into the design process, and the approach is very reactive, relying heavily on regulations and fire codes. Architects and façade designers usually create their designs in the early stages without much focus on fire safety. Later, fire engineers step in and often make big changes to the design, which can increase costs, affect sustainability, and limit creativity for designers who may not know much about fire safety. Another big issue is that current methods only look at how façades resist fire—whether they ignite or burn—but don’t consider what happens during a fire or how to repair and recover afterward. With façade fires doubling in the last decade and the growing use of complex systems with sustainable materials like bio-based insulation, this gap is a serious problem, especially as climate change and urban density increase fire risks.

My thesis, done in collaboration with TU Delft and DGMR, tackles this by creating a Fire-Resilient Façade Design Framework. This framework helps architects and façade designers choose systems that are not only fire-resistant but also resilient, meaning they can handle fire damage and recover effectively. It looks at three stages: before fire (prevention), during fire (how materials behave), and after fire (repair and recovery). The framework has two parts. First, I developed a simulation tool that models how heat moves through different façade systems, like EIFS, rainscreen, timber sandwich, and curtain wall, during a fire. This shows how much damage each system might face over 30, 60, or 120 minutes. Second, since there’s little data on post-fire recovery, I used an expert survey with façade and fire safety professionals to understand repair costs, time, and how well systems can regain functionality. Together, these provide scores for vulnerability, repairability, and recoverability, helping designers pick the best façade system early on. This is crucial because it reduces fire risks, avoids costly redesigns, and supports sustainable building by ensuring safer use of materials like timber, making buildings more resilient in today’s challenging environment.

Wat is er anders/nieuw aan jouw idee/oplossing t.o.v. bestaande oplossingen? / What is different/new about your idea/solution compared to existing solutions??

What makes my framework unique is that it’s the first to define and assess fire resilience specifically for façade systems, addressing a major gap in current practices. Unlike traditional fire safety approaches, which only focus on resistance, stopping ignition or fire spread, and rely on fire engineers stepping in during the middle or end of a project, my framework integrates fire resilience right from the start of the design process. I adapted resilience concepts from other hazards, like floods or earthquakes, and applied them to façades, looking at how they resist fire, how they behave during a fire, and how they can be repaired or restored afterward. The quantitative assessment, which ends up with a score for the vulnerability of the façade system and its materials, shows how susceptible the façade is to damage. I developed a code that simulates fire in a façade system and reveals the damages, pinpointing at what time in a fire event of a certain duration each kind of damage would happen for different materials. This helps designers understand what damages to expect, which is key to planning repair and recovery. I also created a tool with a user-friendly interface that lets designers input façade details, like material layers, and compare different systems based on vulnerability, repairability, and recoverability scores. This shifts fire safety from a reactive consultation to a proactive part of the design process, helping architects make better decisions early and create safer, more resilient buildings.

Wat zijn jouw volgende stappen om het verder te ontwikkelen? / What are your next steps to develop the initiative?

Since this is the first time anyone has worked on fire resilience for façades, there’s a lot of room to grow this framework. Right now, it has two parts. The first part is a simulation I coded to model how heat moves through façade materials during a fire, showing what kind of damage happens and giving a vulnerability score for each material and the whole system. The second part focuses on recovery and repair, but because there’s so little data on what happens to façades after a fire, I used an expert survey to gather insights on repair costs, time, and how well systems can recover. This gave me qualitative scores for recovery and repairability. Moving forward, I want to make the recovery part more numerical by building a dataset of real-world repair and recovery data for façades after fires. This would make the framework more precise and better integrated with the simulation part. I also plan to expand the simulation to include flame spread and more complex heat movement, which would make it more realistic while keeping it simple enough for early design. Testing the framework with real fire experiments and applying it to other façade types, like double-skin or solar-panel systems, would also make it more versatile and useful for designers worldwide.

Wat heb je nodig om (nog meer) impact te maken met dit initiatief? / What do you need to make (more) impact with this initiative?

During my thesis, I worked closely with fire safety engineers from DGMR and TU Delft, incorporating their feedback, especially in the survey for recovery and repair metrics. To make a bigger impact, I’d love to see this tool used by design companies to test how it changes their projects. The framework gives designers clear metrics, like resistance, resilience, damage levels, repair costs, and recovery times, that can guide better decisions early on. Testing it in real design projects would show how it saves time, reduces costs, and improves safety compared to the current method of consulting fire engineers mid-project. I also need access to real fire test data from labs to validate the simulation and make it more accurate. Partnering with architecture firms, façade manufacturers, and regulatory bodies would help refine the tool and get it adopted widely.