This special issue of the Journal of Facade Design and Engineering (JFDE) is linked to the conference FAÇADE 2018 – Adaptive!, the fifth conference that has been organised by Lucerne University of Applied Science and Arts within the framework of the European Façade Network, EFN. FAÇADE 2018 is also the final conference of the COST Action TU1403 ‘Adaptive façades network’ (www.tu1403.eu) and dedicated to multifunctional, adaptive, and dynamic building envelopes.

This book comprises a collection of essays on traditional machiya in Kyoto from various viewpoints and at different scales, including the urban fabric, the construction, the layout of the space plan, and building materials and details. By discussing the topic further from the various perspectives of the Dutch and Japanese scholars, we aim not only to cultivate a better understanding of machiya, but also to clarify the difference between the Netherlands and Japan in terms of ideas and approach...

With this new edition we continue the collaboration with our funding member Tecnalia and the International Congress on Architectural Envelopes (www.icae2018.eu), which they organise every 3 years in San Sebastian (Basque Country, Spain). The eleven articles found in this new issue were carefully selected from 50 abstracts that will be presented during the scientific section of the congress. The final selected papers were subjected to the regular double-blind review process of the journal. Wit...

Residential buildings account for a significant amount of the national energy consumption of all OECD countries and consequently the EU and the Netherlands. Therefore, the national targets for CO2 reduction should include provisions for a more

energy efficient building stock for all EU member states.

National and European level policies the past decades have improved the quality of the building stock by setting stricter standards on the external envelope of newly made buildings, the efficienc...