Silica aerogels are high-performance thermal insulation materials that can be used to provide unique solutions in the envelopes of buildings when space is limited. They are most often applied in historic buildings due to thin insulation thicknesses and since they are compatible with historic structures. In 2021, the first Aerogel Architecture Award was held at Empa in Switzerland in order to collect, evaluate and award outstanding uses of this relatively new building material. From the submitted projects, three were selected for an award by an expert jury. They showcased applications in which heritage protection and the conservation of a building’s character and expression were reconciled with significant improvements in the energy efficiency of the building. The submissions also showed that a broader communication of these types of solutions is important in order to provide more information and security to planners and heritage offices and to facilitate the application of these materials in the future so that they can contribute to the protection of cultural heritage and reductions in the operational and embodied emissions of our building stock by extending the life expectancy and energy efficiency of existing buildings.

Since we increasingly spend time indoors, natural light inside of interiors becomes more and more important for visual comfort and overall human health through setting of circadian rhythm, and can additionally help with energy savings. Aerogel glass bricks are a new building component for perimeter walls, combining structural properties of glass and the thermal insulation capabilities of aerogel with the aesthetic and daylight-transmitting qualities of both. This paper describes the development and thermal and structural characterization and simulation of a highly thermally insulating aerogel glass brick. The aim was to create an aesthetically pleasing building component with excellent thermal insulation properties that is capable of transmitting daylight. This paper explores the design, development, and thermal simulations of an aerogel glass brick, as well as guarded hot-plate measurements and a compression experiment. Measurements of thermal insulating properties and simulations revealed that the aerogel glass brick could reduce energy consumption significantly compared to other conventional building materials for perimeter walls, while also transmitting daylight. Additionally, its aesthetic qualities can make it suitable not only for use in modern construction projects, but also in refurbishment of older objects. The measured thermal conductivity is 53 mW/(m·K), in agreement with thermal simulation results of 51 mW/(m·K), and the measured compressive strength of the brick is 45 MPa. These data suggest that the aerogel glass brick is a viable option for architects and engineers looking for a sustainable and efficient construction component for perimeter walls. Structurally, the brick should allow building large and high spans and its thermal insulation properties can significantly reduce energy consumption, while its aesthetic and daylight-transmitting qualities make it visually appealing.