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Buildings & Construction

Overview

NIST develops safety standards for construction and studies ways to better protect buildings from hazards like earthquakes and windstorms.

Featured Content

National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP)

National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program (NWIRP)

Community Resilience

Understanding Building Codes

Buildings and Construction Topics

Building codes & standards

Building control systems

Building damage & repair

Building economics

Building materials

Energy efficiency

Heating, ventilation and air conditioning equipment

Indoor air quality

Structural engineering

Thermal comfort

The Research

Projects & Programs

Measures of Building Resilience and Structural Robustness Project

Ongoing

Disaster resilience of a building or a community is the capability to quickly restore full functionality following an extreme event. Buildings play a critical

Electrical Performance Measurements of Solar Photovoltaic Cells and Arrays

Ongoing

Renewable energy generation is required to achieve net-zero energy buildings. Solar photovoltaic (PV) arrays typically offer the best means for providing this

Assessment of High-Temperature and Innovative Insulation Thermal Performance

Ongoing

The use of thermal insulation is a primary approach to reducing heating and cooling loads in buildings, which account for 42 % and 24 % of energy consumption in

Coastal Inundation: Hazard Characterization and Structural Design

Ongoing

The project develops next-generation procedures for achieving designs that are safe, sustainable, and economical under coastal inundation, consistent with

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Tools & Instruments

Photograph of large residential-style home with blue tile roof and solar panel in suburban campus setting.

That House on the Hill: Bringing Measurement Science Home

When people ask NIST employees what they do, we often rely on the somewhat nebulous term “measurement science.” To many in the technical community, NIST’s role in measurement science is clear because they are often surrounded by instruments that bear some sort of NIST-traceable calibration certificate.

NIST staff may be able to explain the painstaking work we do to realize basic measurement units like the meter or kelvin with such incredible accuracy and precision. Distance and temperature, electrical power and mass—those examples of measurement science make sense. But some may ask, “Why is there a laboratory on campus that looks like a house? Is that where the director lives?” Aside from making sure all the parts fit together, what does measurement science have to do with a house?

Read the full blog post.