MAINTENANCE AND REPAIR OF THE MODERN BUILDING �S FACADE

Abstract

Building façade is the building skin that encloses and protects the occupants from weather elements, and it also gives the first impression. Building façade without good maintenance cannot show the real design of the building and then it presents a bad image to the occupants as well as the visitors. Glass façade is gaining its popularity in the modern world. Modern buildings with glass façade can be found easily both in Singapore as well as the other parts of the world. Many commercial buildings in Singapore choose to use glass as the material for their building façade mainly because of the aesthetic reason. But stains in the glass can be easily identified due to the transparent property of glass. It is a major problem for glass façade, since the stains badly affect the visual image of the whole building. Hence, the buildings with glass façade require frequent maintenance works to maintain its designed appearance although façade maintenance work is very costly. This paper exams the properties of different types of glass used for commercial buildings’ façade, the possible cause for the defects, and the different maintenance methods available for these buildings. With a case study of Capital Tower this paper wants to find out some problems existing in the current practice, then base on these problems to give some suggestions.