Performance series
This series is a walkthrough of building performance, starting with a discussion of the desired outcomes and progressing to the systems thinking needed to deliver them. The detailed session pages are designed to be the working doc for each meeting. The foundation framing for the series is in P1 (Purpose of a house).
Framework
The series follows the Building Performance Framework (BPF) — a structured graph of 295 nodes across 7 types (A–G) and 82 edges across 8 degradation/mitigation chains, linking desired outcomes to degradation mechanisms and control strategies:
- A) Outcomes: what we want for occupants and house → P1
- B) Conditions: external, site, and contextual stressors → P2
- C) Demands: loads imposed on the building by conditions → P3
- D) Exposures: what occupants experience from the building → P3, P11
- E) Mechanisms: how materials degrade → P4
- F) Failure Modes: where degradation manifests → P4
- G) Controls: implementation of control strategies → P5–P11
Interactive companion: The Performance Framework Explorer lets you navigate all 295 nodes and 82 relationship edges interactively.
Sessions
- P1: Purpose of a house: desired performance outcomes (BPF column A — Outcomes)
- P2: Environmental conditions & stressors (BPF column B — Conditions)
- P3: Loads on buildings & occupants (BPF columns C — Demands, D — Exposures)
- P4: Failure mechanisms & failure modes (BPF columns E — Mechanisms, F — Failure Modes)
- P5: The house as a system: heat, air, moisture interactions (BPF cross-cutting — edges)
- P6: The four control layers: water, air, vapor, thermal (BPF column G — Controls)
- P7: Bulk water & light control: WRBs, cladding, roofing (BPF moisture chain pathway)
- P8: Air leakage & vapor control (BPF air/vapor pathways)
- P9: Heat flow, thermal bridging & condensation management (BPF thermal pathways)
- P10: Assemblies: walls, roofs, transitions, windows & doors (BPF cross-cutting — all columns converge)
- P11: HVAC, IAQ & mechanical integration (BPF columns D — Exposures → A — Outcomes)