Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr.nat.techn. Oliver Englhardt Institute of Building Construction Graz University of Technology Copyright © with the authors. All rights reserved. Experience-based guidelines for Architectural Industrialized Multifunctional Envelope Systems (AIM-ES) Samuel Dubois, Dr. Ir. Belgian Building Research Institute (BBRI), Belgium, sdu@bbri.be Michael De Bouw, Prof. Dr. Ir.-Arch. Belgian Building Research Institute (BBRI), Belgium, mdb@bbri.be University of Antwerp, Department of Design Sciences, Belgium Summary The project AIM-ES revolves around the major theme of reducing the energy consumption of existing dwellings, and improving the comfort and living cost of its occupants. The main focus is put on the rehabilitation of ensembles of buildings by means of an industrialized approach, where large-sized prefabricated façade modules are applied to the existing envelope. This brings advantages in terms of performance, speed of retrofitting and disturbance reduction for the surroundings and users. This paper outlines the final outcome of the project, i.e. a set of guidelines for this technique, aimed towards key stakeholders (owners/users, architects, producers and contractors) and based on experience feedback from realized retrofitting cases. Also, the opportunities and the barriers for the application of some of the investigated systems for the Brussels Capital Region are explored. Keywords: Retrofit, prefabricated envelope systems, experienced-based guidelines, case studies 1 Introduction Reducing the energy consumption of existing dwellings is a central aspect to achieve European goals in terms of carbon dioxide emissions [1]. Moreover, it is intrinsically linked to improvements in terms of comfort and living costs for its occupants. In most European cities, the existing building stock is characterized by aging materials and assemblies, outdated envelope conception with limited or no insulation, and technologies that have reached their end-of-life. A real challenge exists for these buildings to match modern criteria of performance [2], as demolition and re-construction is not always environmentally nor economically justified. The evolution of industrial processes offers innovative techniques for the retrofitting of building envelopes. Prefabricated envelope modules can be assembled off-site and attached in a following stage on the existing structure, providing an accelerated on-site phase with enhanced quality assurance and many possibilities in terms of volume expansion [3]. Under certain conditions, the old building is easily ‘wrapped’ with a new skin on top of the existing walls, avoiding therefore large disturbance for the neighborhood and for occupants who might keep using most of their living accommodation.