Top Air Barrier Details for Commercial Construction

It’s often been said that architecture is the synthesis of art and science, but the art of crafting a thoughtful and successful detail is often something that has to be learned on the job or at the school of hard knocks. This presentation will build on building science basics with in-depth study of detailing in multiple areas of the building envelope. Good and bad examples of real-life details will be reviewed from drawing to photos of built conditions to demonstrate how design intent gets translated into built form.

Learning Objectives:

1. Identify locations in commercial building envelopes that merit close attention during the detailing process
2. Describe how design decisions such as material selection impact air tightness and the complexity of the resulting details
3. Explore details that successfully and unsuccessfully manage air, water and thermal control layers
4. Investigate the relationship between the four primary control layers and how to determine which take priority

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Chris Bubser, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, Senior Technical Architect, LHB Corp

Chris Bubser’s passion has always been detailing, a specialty he cultivated as a Builder, Architect, Virtual Design and Construction Coordinator, and Quality Manager on a variety of commercial and residential buildings around the Midwest. Chris has worked as a Senior Technical Architect at LHB since 2019, where he leverages his diverse background in all phases of design, construction contract administration, facility condition assessments, forensic analysis, and mentoring emerging professionals in the dark arts of detailing. He served on the Board of the Building Enclosure Council of Minnesota from 2014 to 2022, including two years as Chair.