Jul 20, 2015 -- This April, the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS) and the Building Enclosure Council-Kansas City hosted the fourth BEST Conference Building Enclosure Science and Technology® (BEST4) in Kansas City, Missouri, to focus on “Performance-Driven Architectural Design.” The BEST4 program included more than 60 technical presentations, covering such topics as: building envelope commissioning processes and practices; net-zero energy buildings; high-performance detailing; design that considers climate change; NFPA 285 and fire testing; and dynamic daylighting and glare control. Those presentations are now available online via the Building Research Information Knowledgebase (BRIK) website, www.brikbase.org.

Access the BEST4 papers and presentations from the “BEST4 Proceedings” directly, or click on the BEST4 slider at the top of the BRIK home page. Search for individual papers, topics, or authors—or search for “BEST4,” and get a list of all the available papers and presentations.

When you access an individual paper, you will be taken to an abstract of the work with synopsized information. Click on the “download” link to get the paper. Attached to the paper is a PDF of the accompanying PowerPoint presentation—just click on the PDF symbol on the upper right of the screen. These PDFs are best viewed when opened with an Adobe reader. (If the author submitted a PowerPoint presentation only, clicking on the download link takes you directly to the presentation.)

Take Full Advantage of this New Research Portal

The BEST4 presentations, as part of the new BRIK database, are and will remain free and open to anyone, as has been true for all the research from BEST Conferences in the past. However, if you are a NIBS or American Institute of Architects (AIA) member, you can choose to try the new extended information portal for access to thousands of pieces through EBSCO Discovery Services. Go to the BRIK site, www.brikbase.org, click the red sign-in button on the upper right, and create a new account. When you log in thereafter, you will see two search boxes: the “Search EBSCO Research Databases” box allows you to access the extended database. (The extended service is free through September; after that you will be asked if you would like to continue the extended service for an annual $40 fee.)

View the BEST4 presentations.